The Tries of Life
by hamtaro-craz
Summary: Hinata and Hanabi get kidnapped but by who and why? Neji, Tenten, Lee, Naruto, Kiba and Sakura have to save them, will they be able to. SasukexSakura, NejixTenten and some minor pairings.[Ch11 up]
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

It's been five years since Sasuke left the village, everything had returned to normal, even Sakura's heart. She finally decided to forget about him and move on with life. Over those years she had become much, more stronger by becoming an apprentice to Tsunade-sama. Sakura changed a lot, she didn't smile as much and kept quiet most of the time. This all happened as Sasuke departed from her heart and life.

* * *

"Hinata, I want you to take Hanabi with you," said Hiashi-sama. 

"But father...I.need to train. H..Hanabi will bother me," replied Hinata. Over the years, Hinata had grown stronger and started to stand up for herself.

"I want you to train with her, Hanabi will improve a lot by that," snapped Hiashi-sama.

"Um...H.Hanabi can come," muttering the last few words, so softly that Hiashi strained to hear them.

"Father, no way am I training with Hinata. She is a weakling and...and...training with her is bad!" exclaimed Hanabi, from behind.

"You are to go and no buts!" stated Hiashi before turning to Hinata, "Come back before sun set." And with that he left leaving the two girls alone.

"Hanabi, we should go and train," Hinata mumbled quietly under her breath.

Her sister on the other hand just ignored her leaving Hinata half angry and sad.

"Hanabi, f..father said that you have to...to..because...its..its for training," said a stammering Hinata.

"Fine! I'm only coming because of father not you," and with that, the two girls left for their training.

Upon arriving at the training area near the edge of the forest, Hanabi commanded to start. Getting into their battle stances, they prepared for the coming battle. The two were so into their match that they failed to notice three enemies lurking nearby. Suddenly Hinata realised two incoming senbon flying towards Hanabi and her. She dodged one of them and rushed in front of Hanabi, taking the attack in her left thigh. With her byakugan activated she could see two enemies near the base of the forest floor, but she could sense the presence of another enemy. The three enemy ninjas revealed themselves. They were dressed fully in black but they didn't have forehead protectors to tell Hinata what village they were from.

One of the enemy ninjas called out to Hinata, "Oi, oi little girl. You can't beat us by yourself! Even with that other weakling!"

Inside Hinata, her heart was burning with anger. Her sister was rather annoyed with the fact that they called her a weakling.

"Let's fight," Hinata called out to Hanabi, who willingly agreed and followed her sister.

The enemy ninjas just laughed at them. "Lets have some fun but don't kill them, remember the plan," the leader of the group yelled to his companions. With that, the enemy charged at Hinata and Hanabi. Getting into their battles stances, they prepared for the coming attacks. Hinata took on two while Hanabi took on another. The sounds of kunais echoed though the forest floor. Hanabi accidentally missed her attack giving her opponent the time needed to knock her out. Upon seeing this, Hinata tried to get to her sister but didn't have the chance as her opponents caught her leaving her surrounded with three enemies.

"What do you want with us?" Hinata asked confidently to show no weakness.

"Now why should we tell you that, little girl?" one of them replied. "We won't need to, since you'll find out sooner or later." With that the three enemy nins charged at Hinata.

Hinata was starting to feel tired since the opponents were so strong she used up a lot more chakura than usual. The senbon was still in her thigh because she didn't have time to take it out. The wound was bleeding but it seemed okay. The three fought Hinata until she ran out of chakura. Once seeing this, the enemy knocked her out with the last thing she saw was one of them picking up Hanabi before blacking out.

* * *

On the other side of the forest two ninjas were having a spar. Winds were coming in covering the sky with dark clouds. Rain started to fall but the two persisted. Sounds of clashing kunais and shurikens, echoed throughout the forest floor against the howling wind. Until, finally-both could do no more, lying against a tree to catch their breath. 

Tenten's muscles ached from their long match after for what seemed like 10 hours. It was already late afternoon and the sun was starting to set. She looked across to see Neji meditating; it was cool seeing him like this because she could see his face without looking at his eyes. His milky-white eyes.

The two stayed silent, listening to the wind, until Neji broke the silence.

"Your aim was off," stated Neji.

Tenten flashed him a small smile before answering, "I know but the wind caused my calculations to go wrong."

"hn," was the only reply she got from Neji.

The rain continued to fall, pelting down at the two like stones.

"That's it for today. You should go home before you catch a cold," Neji informed her before turning around to leave.

"Bye, Neji!" Tenten called out to him before turning towards home, herself.

"Bye," muttered Neji and with that he walked back home.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

After their sparring match, Tenten finally managed to drag herself home. Her muscles were telling her to stop but her instincts kept her going. The first thing she did when she got home was a nice long sleep on the couch. While Tenten was sleeping, on the other side of Konoha, something was happening at the Hyuuga Manor.

* * *

Neji had arrived home but was called in to speak to Hiashi-sama about an important matter. He walked back to his room, drawing in what had happened. 

_Flashback_

_Once arriving home, one of the Branch members said that Hiashi-sama needed to speak with him urgently and with that he went off to find his uncle. When he entered his uncle's room, he could see Hiashi's pale face filled with worry but as Neji arrived, his face relaxed and replaced itself with relief._

"_You called for me?" asked Neji._

"_Yes, this is really important and no one else must find out about it. Understood?" Hiashi said._

"_Yes," muttered Neji before turning his full attention to Hiashi._

"_I think Hinata and Hanabi have been taken away because Hinata agreed to come home before sun set. But the sun set ages ago and I'm starting to worry," stated Hiashi before continuing. "I' m putting you on a mission to find them. I' ve gotten word from the Hokage. I want you to choose four others and leave first thing in the morning. The Hokage has told me she doesn't want any Chuunins or Jounins out of the village. I want to speak to you before you leave. You're dismissed."_

_Neji bowed before leaving, returning to his room to prepare a few things._

_End of Flashback_

Returning to his room, Neji started to think about who he was going to choose, he didn' t have enough time so he concluded with four people: Tenten, Lee, Naruto and Sakura. With the team composed, all he had to do was inform each one by tonight. Walking out, he quickly went to find Tenten.

Once reaching her home, he knocked on the door but no answer come from within. Standing in the rain, most utterly surprised-wondering where she could be. Fiddling with the door knob, it twisted letting him into her home. _Hmmm its unlock_, thought Neji before going inside to seek shelter from the rain and winds, he looked around to find her. Finding her least expected, she was still in her training clothes but none less-sleeping.

How he love seeing her sleeping form, which was also so relaxed. Her face was beautiful even with loose strands of hair coming out from her buns.

_Beautiful! I can' t use that word. I' m a Hyuuga and she is nothing else more than my team mate, _thought Neji, walking up to her and shaking her awake.

"Hmmm...go away, I'm sleeping," mumbled Tenten before turning back to her sleep.

Figuring that she wouldn't wake just by shaking her, Neji shouted her name instead hoping to get her the wake up, "Tenten!"

That worked because soon a confused and shocked Tenten was up and looking around, until she realised Neji was there, "Neji! When and how did you get in?"

"I merely opened the door and stepped in," muttered Neji.

"The door! I locked that, so you couldn' t have gotten in." stated Tenten.

"It was unlocked and I have to talk to you about something," Neji merely announced.

Turning to him, Tenten waited for what he had to say.

"Hinata and Hanabi have been taken by somewhere to somewhere. Hiashi-sama has asked me to conduct a mission in search for them. I've chosen you to come so I'm here to inform you about it," stated Neji.

"Ofcourse, I' ll go. When is it?" asked Tenten.

"First thing, tomorrow morning, meet the others and me at the Hyuuga Manor.

"Okay, I' ll be ready. Who else will be there?" questioned Tenten

"I haven' t asked the others but I plan on taking Naruto, Sakura and L...Lee." He said the last name so softly that Tenten had to strain so she could hear it.

"You should get going then, if you have so many others to talk to, it' s getting dark," announced Tenten.

"Bye," mumbled Neji before turning around and going back out into the rain and winds.

* * *

From there, he went to Ichiraku's where he found Naruto eating his 7th bowl of ramen. 

"Naruto," said Neji.

Once seeing the white-eyed prodigy, Naruto quickly gobbled down his mouth full before turning to Neji "Hello!" he yelled, flashing Neji a wide grin.

"I'm asking you to join me on a mission," replied a stoic Neji.

"Mission...hmm...I' ll need to think about it...give me the details," questioned Naruto.

"I' ll give you the details tomorrow but I need your answer now," replied a rather annoyed Neji.

"Fine, fine...yes...I' ll go," Naruto finally stated out while flashing yet again, one of his grins at Neji.

"Tomorrow-outside the Hyuuga Manor and DON' T be late." With that he left leaving Naruto to enjoy his noodles.

* * *

Next he went to find Sakura, he choose her because they would need a medic on the team and she was one of the best, after the Hokage. Arriving at Sakura' s place, he found Lee standing there, in the rain as if something bad had happened. 

"Lee," Neji hesitantly said.

"AHH, MY RIVAL HAS SPOKEN TO ME! YOU WILL NOT WIN SAKURA SAN'S HEART! IF I LOSE TO YOU, THEN I'LL RUN 200 LAPS AROUND THE VILLAGE!" exclaimed Lee.

Neji sweat dropped before speaking to Lee. "I' m not here to play your stupid games, will you grow up already. You' re a Jounin not a five year old child!" yelled Neji whose was really, really angry by that point.

"Oh...then why are you here?" asked Lee.

"I'm here to ask Sakura something and since you're here, I can talk to you both at once," replied Neji.

"OKAY, MY RIVAL NEEDS TO TALK TO ME and Sakura san. Um...let's see if she is home," And with that he walked up to her door and was about to knock when it opened with Sakura standing there.

"How did you know we were here?" asked Lee.

"You' re loud enough to be heard throughout the whole village," she stated but with no smile, just a plain facial expression. Everyone could see the difference in her. "Come in."

"NEJI, WHAT IS YOUR REASON TO SEE US!" yelled Lee showing everyone he still had those 'flaming spirits of youth'.

So Neji was there informing them about the mission.

* * *

Elsewhere, Hinata had just woken up from her blackout.

* * *

Somewhere else, Sasuke was seeking shelter in the forest away from the rain. _Tomorrow, _he thought_, I'll destroy that little, peaceful village. _His huger for power caused him to do all sorts of things but the main thing in his head was the words _revenge_ and _kill. _

The nearby village was just a small one, consisting of less than 100 people. The village known as Karo was weak and its defences were low. But they had never been attacked so all were not prepared as to what might happen, tomorrow.

* * *

"Yes!" shouted Lee. "I will definitely help you!" 

Neji just smirked, "And you?" he asked Sakura.

"I' ll go," was her reply.

"Tomorrow morning, outside the Hyuuga Manor," and after that he left Lee and Sakura, walking back out in the rain and wind. With his team ready, all he had to do was return home and prepare for the coming day.

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Hinata woke, feeling coldness surrounding her. The senbon was still imbedded into her left thigh; she pulled it out with care before checking her surroundings. Looking around her, she could see walls and walls- all dark and continuous. There weren' t any bars like those of a cage, therefore concluding that she was in a really big cave. Suddenly she remembered about her sister, Hanabi, activating her byakugan she tried to gain information as to where Hanabi could be and where there were possible exits. Not long later, her eyes stumbled along four figures walking around the cave to an unknown destination.

One of them was dressed from head to toe in a large cloak while the others dressed themselves casually. Hinata suspected that the three were her captives.

_What am I to do,_ thought Hinata. _I haven' t been a Chuunin that long and I' ve never been on a mission alone before. There was always someone with me. _Her timidness had returned to her, again. But, suddenly an image of Naruto popped through her mind. _That' s right, Naruto-kun never gives up so why should I. _

She once again tried to search for Hanabi but came up with no traces. Stumping down onto the rocky surface below, she thought, _what am I to do? I can' t do anything. I have no idea what to do next. _Tears of sorrow were dripping down her face.

* * *

Meanwhile, Hanabi awoke finding herself in the middle of a forest, looking up she saw grey clouds and the moon shining from behind them. Examining herself all scratched and messed up but she didn' t care, all she wanted was to get home, which was quite a problem since she had no idea where she was. Thunder rumbled and rain started to pelt down. 

_Curse the rain, why now, _she asked herself as her clothes clung to her from the wetness. _Where am I and how on earth did I get here? More importantly, where am I to go now. If I continue to stand here I' ll catch a by morning. _Choosing her route, she headed east to any destination.

* * *

Next day, somewhere in the forest, near the edge of the Sand Village, Sasuke was planning his attack on the little village, Haro. 

_Pathetic little place, _he thought. _Soon you will no longer be a small, peaceful town but one of anger and dread, _ending his thoughts with an evil laugh. _Enjoy the time you have, I' ll attack at midday. _Walking off to a lake situated nearby.

* * *

Tenten scrambled out of bed as soon as she realised the time. _I' m going to be late if I don' t hurry._ Grabbing some new clothes from the wardrobe, she quickly dressed. Tying her hair in its usual two buns before setting off to find her backpack she had packed the day before. Opening the fridge she retrieved a water bottle and stuffed that into the bag. Before she zipped it up, she quickly ran over the things to be sure she had them all. _Water bottle, first-aid kit, my weapons, scrolls, sleeping bag and some food, all checked, _she thought. _Extra weapons and scrolls just in case._ She already had weapons stocked but it wouldn't hurt to be on the safe side. Taking an apple from the fruits basket she let herself out of the house, locking it as she went.

* * *

Sakura wasn' t as rushed as Tenten was, she woke up on time and everything was organised. Getting changed into her clothes she thought about the mission. _A mission to find and save Hinata and her sister seems fine. _Grabbing the necessary needs and putting them into her pack, she walked peacefully into the kitchen. It was quiet and dull but what was to expect, after all she lived by herself- alone and away from the happiness. Making herself breakfast she quickly ate it before leaving with her backpack towards the Hyuuga Manor.

* * *

Lee on the other hand was up early in the morning, already doing some training before the mission even started. He seemed organised and ready but someone else was not. 

Naruto had slept in and took a long time to pack all the things he need. _What an idiot I am, Neji will kill me if I am late, _he thought. He rushed out of his apartment without eating breakfast and he will sure receive the punishment for that, later.

* * *

Neji had been awake for a long time, talking to Hiashi in his room. While he waited for the others to arrive he recalled his uncle's words. 

_Flashback_

"_Neji, I understand you have chosen four others to accompany you. May I ask whom?" Hiashi asked with curiosity._

"_I' ve chosen Tenten, Naruto, Sakura and Lee," he informed his uncle._

"_Do remember no others are to know about this, I have informed the Hyuugas that Hinata and Hanabi have gone out for a while," Hiashi replied._

"_Yes, Hiashi-sama," Neji nodded in agreement._

"_Before you leave, I want to see the others." He announced, "Also I' ll inform the Hokage about your choices. I want this mission to be accomplished as fast as possible." _

"_Yes," was Neji's reply._

_Bowing before he left, he walked out to wait for the others._

_End of Flashback_

The first to arrive was Tenten, though she seemed a bit puffed out as if she was in a rush, greeting Neji with a warm smile. Few minutes later, Sakura arrived giving a greeting before returning to her silent state. She wondered to the corner of the walls, wanting to be alone. While they waited for the other two, Tenten mentioned a few things.

"Um...Neji, how exactly do we know how to find them?" she asked.

"hn," was what she got as a reply from Neji.

There was silence for a couple of minutes before Neji broke it.

"We' ll figure that out later but for now let's wait for the others," he said. "And those two are late."

Sure enough, both Lee and Naruto were late even if they Jounins, they weren' t much organised ones. Suddenly the floor started to rumble as if an earthquake was approaching only the two earthquakes were Lee and Naruto. They were running like bulls, through the village and stopping right outside the Hyuuga Manor where three others were waiting very impatiently for them.

"You' re late," stated Neji. "We have to speak with ..." Before he could finish, he was interrupted by Naruto and his shouting.

"Not my fault I was late, furry eye brows was the problem!" Naruto but once seeing Sakura, his attitude changed. "Good Morning, Sakura-chan." For a Jounin, he still acted like a 5 year old child.

"GOOD MORNING, SAKURA-SAN!" yelled Lee after catching a glimpse of Sakura in the corner.

"...Hiashi-sama before we leave," continued Neji after Naruto interrupted him.

Heading into the Hyuuga Manor, the five figures walked in to have a talk with Hiashi before leaving.

"I want you all to accomplish this mission successfully," stated Hiashi. "No one is to find out about this."

"Excuse me, but find out about what?" asked Naruto giving off a confused look. But everyone turned towards Neji wondering why Naruto wasn' t informed.

"I didn' t trust him to keep his mouth zipped," replied Neji adding a little annoyanceto his words.

"Well, one of you can inform him later but right now, I think you should all be leaving," announced Hiashi before leaving them.

Before they left, they need to plan since they had no idea where Hinata and Hanabi were.

"Start in Konoha and ask some questions but don' t give it away," ordered Neji getting straight to the point. "Sakura, inform Naruto. I want you all back here by midday. Go."

The group separated to gather any information about Hinata and Hanabi.

* * *

Meanwhile, Hiashi was having a talk with the Hokage. 

"Neji has taken Tenten, Naruto, Sakura and Lee, with him on the mission," he said to Tsunade.

"Thank you for informing me, but I'll ask you why Hinata and Hanabi might be taken?" she asked.

"I think I know why but I am not positively sure," he replied. "There is a secret scroll that only some people have heard of; the scroll belongs to the Hyuugas from generations before."

"They want a scroll?" Tsunade asked, adding a bit of interest to the subject.

"It isn't any scroll, one that can decide the fate of all Hyuugas," Hiashi replied.

"I suggest you keep it safe and I believe they want it as an exchange for Hinata and Hanabi," the Hokage stated upon hearing this piece of information.

"Yes, I am quite certain that is the reason," he said, getting up to leave.

"Inform me if anything comes up," Tsunade called out.

* * *

**A/N: **Thank you for reading so far. I hope you like it. I'll try to update as soon as possible. This is my first fan fic. 

harukakanata- Thank you for your review. It help me a lot. Sakura has changed. And the rest you seem to have gotten it. Thanks again.

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz- Thanks for the review. I'll take them to account.

mystical shadow angel- Great to hear that you like it, so far.

KonohaChan- Thanks for reviewing. I'm happy you like it.

Other reviewers- Thank you for reading and reviewing. Please continue reading, it makes me feel happy that others like it.

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Sakura ran through Konoha, after informing Naruto, seeking any information she could about Hinata or Hanabi. _There is no way, I will find anything by running around, _she thought, _I' ll ask some shopkeepers._

Going inside one of the shops, she quickly asked for any useful information.

"Excuse me sir, but have you seen Hyuuga Hinata or Hyuuga Hanabi, lately?"

Luckily the Hyuugas were well known in Konoha so many knew who they were.

"Hyuuga Hinata, um...sorry miss but I haven' t seen her or her sister. The last time I saw them was almost two months ago," replied the owner.

"Thank you for your help," with that, Sakura left going back to her search.

* * *

Being the last person to be informed, Naruto was rather annoyed, mostly at Neji for not trusting him. _Who does he think I am? I' m a Jounin not a young child. I don' t just go blabbing things out. Damn him, he was thinking. _Another part of him was frustrated at the kidnapper for taking Hinata (who he thought of as a good friend or maybe even more). 

Like Sakura, he too was running around, asking for information. Coming to a halt, he spotted a couple of villagers walking towards a park. Catching up to the closest person, "Hey you!" he called out. "Have you seen Hinata-chan?"

The person who was surprised by the question replied, "As in Hyuuga Hinata?"

"Yes, yes, yes. Have you seen her?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"I don' t know, but I don' t think so. You see I have a problem..." the person continued talking about himself, but Naruto being a not so kind person, interrupted telling him, he had to go. Once saying this, he quickly ran off leaving a confused villager.

_This is going no where. I will never find any clues as to where Hinata-chan could be. Please let her be okay. It's nearly noon and I won't have much more time, _he thought, but he continued with Neji's order and carried on.

* * *

Lee on the other hand, wasn' t having a problem getting information. A whole group of people was surrounding him throwing all their knowledge of Hinata and Hanabi at him. 

_Flashback_

_Walking through a crowded street, Lee had a problem looking for people to question. But soon an idea came to him._

_Shouting at the top of his lungs, he yelled, "Has anyone seen Hyuuga Hinata or Hyuuga Hanabi?" many people were staring at him as if he was crazy but ignoring them he continued, "If you have, please come forward to Rock Lee, this is a request from the Godaime!" _

_Not sooner, a group of people surrounded him giving him information._

_End of Flashback_

While Lee was busy listening to the villagers, on the other side of Village, two other Jounins were continuing with their separate searches.

* * *

Tenten had been running for a while, now. But nothing came up from her search. The shopkeepers weren' t much of a help and nor were the villagers. _I' ve been searching for a long thing and not a single thing has come up, _she thought. _Maybe I' m just looking from the wrong angle. The others are probably having more luck than me._

She was about to give up hope when she couldn' t help overhearing a conversation between two middle aged ladies.

"Yesterday when it rained so hard, everyone was looking for shelter. The winds were so strong and the rain fell down like rocks. But from the place I was sheltered; I could hear a ninja' s fight was going on near the forest. The weapons made all these noises, loud enough to be heard against the wind," said one of them.

"Kids these das, all wanting to become strong ninjas, not even caring about themselves," was the others reply.

"From all the commotion, I would say there were more than two people, probably five or six," the other one stated.

_A fight near the forest? It couldn't have been Neji and me. The lady mentioned five or six. Maybe someone else was training, but who, _Tenten thought. Walking up to the two, she quickly asked about their conversation.

"Sorry, but I couldn' t help overhearing you talking about a fight."

"Well, I' m not absolutely sure but it was defiantly a match. Somewhere there," one of them answered, pointing over to the forest.

"Thank you, and sorry for the interrupting your conversation," apologised Tenten

"Don' t worry, dear." they replied, smiling at her. Both noticed that Tenten wasn't a ordinary villager but a ninja. "Hopefully we were some help to you."

"Yes and thank you," Tenten said briskly to them and with that, she headed towards the forest.

Once arriving, she decided to search for traces of where the fight was. But the rain had caused a lot of damage, leaves, branches and logs were scattered all around the forest floor. _This is such a great help, _she thought sarcastically to herself. The floor was covered up in leaves, all dull and damp. Everything was camouflaged but suddenly her eyes stumbled along a dark, murky, coloured cloth that was torn, with a senbon imbedded unto it. Moving away the scattered leaves and branches, she uncovered more weapons, some imbedded into nearby logs.

_There has definitely been a match here and judging from the weapons, they aren't rusty or anything almost new. I would say that the fight happened very recently, _She thought.

Just then, one of the nearby bushes rustled and Tenten being on her guard, immediately reached for a kunai.

"Tenten, it' s only me," stated a voice, that to her was very familiar.

Realising the person' s chakra was indeed familiar, she lowered her weapon. Stepping out from the bushes was Neji.

"You' ve found something," was all he said, keeping his face unreadable.

"There has been a fight here, very recently too," she informed him, pointing to the piece of torn fabric and weapons.

Bending down, he quickly scanned the things before turning to Tenten, "It' s almost noon, go back to the Hyuuga Manor and bring the others back here. And find Kiba and his dog. Bring them here too,"

"Okay," replied Tenten, heading back to where they first started.

* * *

Arriving, she found Sakura shaded into the corner while Naruto and Lee, were once again, arguing. 

"SAKURA-CHAN DEFINATLY LIKES ME MORE THAN YOU, FURRY EYEBROWS!" Naruto yelled out.

"SAKURA-SAN'S HEART WILL BELONG TO ME. NARUTO YOU ARE TOO ANNOYING FOR SOMEONE AS PEACEFUL AND CALM LIKE SAKURA!" was Lee' s extra loud reply.

All that shouting was giving both Tenten and Sakura a headache. In a flash Tenten flung two kunais at them, stopping their shouting. Sakura gave Tenten a thankful look before returning to her usual self.

"Neji wants us all to gather near the forest, something has been found but before that, we have to find Kiba and Akamaru and bring them there as well," Tenten finally managed to say, after her anger at Lee and Naruto subsided.

Lucky for them, they didn' t have to look for Kiba at all, since he was walking near the Hyuuga Manor, looking or Hinata.

"Oi, have any of you seen Hinata?" he asked them.

Giving each other an eye contact, they remembered the fact that they had to keep their knowledge of Hinata, a secret.

"No, but you have to come with us," stated Tenten, grabbing him by the collar and dragging him to the forest, with the others (and Akamaru) following slowly behind.

Once arriving, Kiba who was very annoyed, yelled out, "What was that for?"

But to his surprise the others were circled in a group whispering to each other, discussing about their recent problem.

"Hey you guys! Were you even listening to me? You drag me here for no reason and if you don't hurry up and explain then I'm leaving," Kiba announced with Akamaru barking trying to get their attention. That worked because not sooner had the group turned to face him.

"Sakura, explain to him," Neji said.

So Sakura walked forward and started with the explanation. A few minutes later after Kiba was informed, Neji walked up to him asking a question. "Join me on this mission; we would need your help."  
Kiba, who was surprised by this, quickly replied giving Neji a positive answer.

Neji called his team forward and together they discuss about what they had discovered of their search. Kiba who was new just listened, with Akamaru seated next to him.

"Did anyone find anything useful?" Neji asked, "Sakura?"

"Not much, the people I asked all gave me similar answers, saying they either saw Hinata or Hanabi but a long time ago," Sakura reported.

"Hn," was the reply she got from Neji, "Naruto?"

"One lady told me she remember seeing them walking to the forest, but she wasn' t exactly sure," was Naruto's report.

"Lee?"

"I found WONDERFUL information. One old man said that Hinata and Hanabi were training together," reported Lee.

"Hn," was Neji's reply, "Tenten?"

"Well, Neji, you already know what I found but for the others. I overheard two ladies talking about a fight that happened near the forest. She said there were probably five or six people. I found a piece of torn fabric (she pointed to it) and weapons scattered along the floor," finishing off, her report.

"We need Kiba and Akamaru here, to see whose clothes that piece of fabric belongs to," stated Neji, turning his attention to Kiba, "Get Akamaru to smell who it belongs to, it might be a familiar scent."

While Akamaru was sniffing at the fabric with Kiba concluding that the scent on the fabric definitely belongs to Hinata. For the next couple of minutes, the group decided to take the fabric and head back to the Hyuuga Manor to discuss their next moves.

* * *

While they were discussing their plans, the village of Karo was under attack. 

"AAAHHH!" screamed the villagers.

"Pathetic village, boring, power will not come from here," said Sasuke, sneering at the villagers. Even if the small village provided no power to him, he continued through the streets, killing anyone at sight. It was something he enjoyed to do.

Not much longer later, the scene of the village was not longer filled with peace and happiness but with flames bursting from the roof tops and deadly silence filling the air. Blood was scattered onto the floor where dead corpse laid. Leaving the village, the image of it quickly erased itself from his mind. _Hmm, where to next? Life is never entertaining without death, _He thought. Heading in an unknown destination, he walked where ever his feet carried him.

* * *

**A/N: **Another chapter done! I'll try and update as fast as possible. Hopefully you've liked it so far. Thank you! 


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The sun was up and clouds flew by in the sky. Hyuuga Hanabi continued her walk through the forest. She was lost and for the whole time she hadn't stumbled along anything that might have given her a clue. Late last night, she'd woken up, finding herself in a forest. Choosing a direction (east) she just walked, letting her feet wondered to where ever. The rain hadn't bothered her but she had a little headache. Her walk had indeed taken a lot from her; her charka level was becoming quite low. The sun was shinning through the canopy sending rays of light through.

Thinking to herself, _Father must know by know that I'm missing. Where is my sister, anyway? Did she get away; probably not after all, she is such a weakling. We were so stupid to even realise those three enemy-nins. This would've never happened if father hadn't ordered me to train with my sister. Why did those people fight with us? I can't believe I lost to them so easily; I was completely worn out from the training. _Being only twelve years old and an average genin, she had some doubts about her capabilities.

Finally, her legs gave in and moving to the nearest tree, she collapsed from exhaustion. Hanabi wasn't on her guard, never realised a man had been following her the whole time; a kunai shot out, aimed for her. Using the last of her energy, she dodged it leaving the weapon planted into the bark of a tree.

A harsh voiced sliced through the air, "You think you can get away that easily?"

Activating her bloodline limit, she spotted a man just a few paces away from her. But like her kidnappers, he too, didn't have a forehead protector to indicate what village he was from. She took in deeper breaths, panting from tiredness; feeling like a mouse caught in a trap. The enemy took his time, slowly revealing himself, throwing three kunais at her. Hanabi had barely managed to get out of the way in time; one weapon ran past her, cutting a stand of hair. Landing on the floor but once again collapsing.

"If you were trying to take me, why did you just leave me in a forest?" she called out, with a hint of anger in her voice.

"Why? Because it is so much fun watching you suffer," her enemy replied letting sounds of laughter escape from his mouth, ringing through the forest.

Her anger started to grow, this time yelling out, "You are no ninja, just one that likes to watch people suffer."

Infuriated, by the statement, he too threw back an insult, "And you think you're a ninja? Why you didn't even sense that I had been following you. A ninja needs to been on his/her guard. For a Hyuuga, you surely disappoint me."

Hanabi was now more than angry, but this anger acted upon her. She could feel her charka returning and her hatred for the man in front of her. Getting up, she got into her battle stance indicating she wanted to fight.

"You want to fight now! How childish! You can't win and you know it yourself. Your chakra is low so you wouldn't even put up a worthy fight," the harsh voice replied.

_She is such a weakling even for a Hyuuga, even her sister didn't put up much of a fight. Hmph! I'll finish her in a minute or less. But I can't kill her or the boss will freak. All I have to do is take her back to the boss and then my part is done. _

"You won't stand a chance against me, Hyuuga. I'll finish you in a minute."

Hanabi just smirked before replying, "Well then let's see you back it up."

"Your choice but I can already see your future," her opponent called back.

Starting the attack first, Hanabi grabbed a kunai and sent it flying directly at her opponent. But he easily dodged it, returning the attacks with five throwing darts. (A/N: is that what they're called. I can't remember.) As expected, with her byakugan, she quickly deflected them and ran towards him.

"Jyuuken"

Her opponent barely escaped knowing that one hit could cause quite a lot of damage to the internal organs. It continued for minutes and Hanabi called out, "I thought you said a minute."

"Shut up, you arrogant brat!" the enemy shouted back, beads of sweat were running down his face. _She should be knocked out by now. _

She continuously tried attacking him with 'Jyuuken' but he always managed to dodge them. Pulling out four throwing darts from her holster, she once again tried to attack him, but with no affect.

Her opponent drew out six senbon and aimed it at the Hyuuga. Dodging them one by one but with difficulty, Hanabi cringed with pain as one of them hit her upper right arm. The enemy then, wasting no time, quickly performed some hand seals and not sooner was the whole forest covered with mist. She, herself was calm, knowing there was no technique that the byakugan couldn't see through. Or so she thought.

Shock came to her, once she tried to locate her opponent when all she could see, was hardly anything.

_What' _s...what's_ happening? This can't be possible. The byakugan can't see through this thick mist. Could it be possible, for the byakugan to be sealed? It can't be possible, _she thought. Her whole body was shaking from fear; she was such an easy target now.

She tried deactivating her byakugan but that just made things even worst. Though her sight was penetrated, that wasn't going to pull her down. Sensing incoming weapons, she quickly reactivated her byakugan and managed to escape the two senbon aimed at her, but soon realised her mistake. The senbon was only the bait because a few seconds later, a shower of kunais fell towards her.

_Damn! I can't believe I fell for it. How am I to deflect all of them, if I can hardly see a thing? _A voice spoke up in her mind, her father's and what he said, about a year ago.

_Flashback_

"_Hanabi, you're capable of learning 'hakkeshou kaiten'. A move reserved for main family members," her father announced to her._

"_Main members, but Neji-ne-san has learned it," questioned a confused eleven year old child._

"_Yes, your cousin is the genius of the Hyuuga Clan," stated her father. After all, Neji had learned two moves that were reserved. He truly is a genius. _

_Working harder and harder, day by day, from that day onwards, Hanabi trained in order to perfect her'kaiten'. _

_End of Flashback_

_That's it! Kaiten, _she thought. Controlling her charka, which was indeed starting to run low but her determination didn't fail so nor did she. Her form became a blur as she spun letting the charka take form, blocking the incoming kunais.

Being some what surprised by this her opponent attacked her with another shower of kunais. Hanabi performed her 'kaiten' leaving the enemy gaping in shock. The mist had started to clear so her sight was returning, but not perfect. While she had been performing her 'kaiten' her opponent had taken that moment to hide, but she couldn't grasp his position.

"You think you're strong, but compared to me, you're nothing," the insult ripped through the air

_Keep calm. Don't let his insult bother you, _she told herself. More and more insults were thrown at her but she kept her cool. By then, the mist was almost gone, leaving her with perfect sight. She quickly spotted her opponent, running rapidly towards him with her 'Jyuuken' set, attacking him when he was off guard, hitting him numerous times before taking a small second break, to continue with further attacks.

"What! When!" her opponent gasped out, his eyes clearly reading shock and fear. His internal organs were suffering a lot and were hurting like hell.

"Don't underestimate me," she stated before a smirk appeared.

Quickly finishing him off with a couple more hits, she left him as a heap on the forest floor. The match had taken ages and her whole body ached, she stumped onto to floor trying to regain her breath. By that point her charka was all used up, she had not a single strength left to even get back on her feet. Lying on the floor, tiredness soon reached her mind and within a few minutes, she was out.

* * *

While this had been happening, Hinata was still trying to find a way out from her cave prison. She'd lost track of time, not knowing whether it was day or night since the cave never lightened up staying the same. Her luck with finding an escape route was also negative, even with her byakugan. It probably wasn't long ago when she had had stumped down, crying. 

After a few minutes of crying, sadness washed away. Though she had no idea what she could do she once again tried. She was quick on giving up when fate was against her but now she felt some what different, something that she couldn't explain.

"A ninja must always remain calm in what ever situation they are in," a statement Iruka-sensei had taught them, back at the academy.

Many thought were running around in her mind, _Where's Hanabi? What to do? How to get out? My byakugan can' t even see through these walls. But that has to be impossible; there is no way it can happen. The only thing I can see is where all those tunnels lead to but they all are dead ends. _

Closing her eyes she tried picturing the situation:

She hadn't found an escape route, she only had some weapons left in her holster, she had no idea where her sister was, her byakugan couldn't see through the walls, tunnels that led to dead ends, rocky surface along the floor and the four I saw before, seemed to have gotten in but how can they get out.

The list went on and on.

But even with luck was against her, this time she took a walk along the tunnels trying to find anything with her byakugan. She continued for what seemed hours. The walls all looked alike except for one wall along one of the tunnels, which seemed different in some way. It wasn't the colour since it was so dark to see inside there, a person without the byakugan would have died. The wall had some strange charka coming from it, and it was the only place where she could sense something was there. Grabbing a kunai from her holster, she decided to give that wall a gently push, but to her amazement, her hand went right through. It almost seemed as if the wall wasn't there just air, but her bloodline limit couldn't see what was on the other side.

Taking the chance, she swiftly went through only to find a single passage way leading into darkness. Thinking of no other alternative, she followed it, keeping her guard up.

* * *

Neji and the group had returned to the Hyuuga Manor, meeting the Hyuuga head near the front. He called to Neji and the others to follow him but soon realised there was an extra person. Before his uncle could speak up, Neji informed him that he was taking Kiba, a Chuunin with him. 

Hiashi merely nodded before asking them all to follow him. In a room, the six and Hiashi help them plan their next moves, who was starting to worry deeply about his two daughters but didn't let the emotions appear.

"You are to head for the Village of Sand, where I think they kidnappers might be from." Hiashi announced and with that, he left them to continue. But turned back, "Neji, I'll inform the Hokage about you're changes and good luck."

Neji stood up, bowing to his uncle before replying, "Thank you, Hiashi-sama."

They soon finished and within moments left Konoha (early afternoon a few minutes after noon) for the Sand Village in search for the two Hyuugas. The group consisting of four Jounins, one Chuunin and a medic was soon going to find some surprises coming their way.

* * *

**A/N: **Hope you like it! I don't think i can update the next chapter that soon, so hopefully you won't mind waiting a bit longer. Sasuke x Sakura pairing will come in later soon but Neji x Tenten pairing will happen first. The minor pairing is Naruto x Hinata but that comes in much later. 

The Gandhara- Thank you for your review. It was really helpful and i realised i did indeed do some wrong things back then. Actually Naruto does like Sakura now but later on his feelings kind of change. Another big thanks to you!

Other reviewers- Please continue reading! I really do hope you like it.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** I never mentioned it before but all of them are older by like 5 years. Tenten, Neji and Lee are 18 while Naruto and the rest of them are a year younger. Hopefully there hasn' t been any confusion.

**Chapter 6**

After destroying the Village-Karo, Sasuke had wondered back into the forest as for shelter and a hideout. His mind had only one intention, to kill his older brother-Uchiha Itachi. But for the moment being, he had no set destination. The sun was starting to set and the temperature was beginning to drop.

Walking further into the forest, he found a small clearing with two figures lying on the floor. Going to the larger body, he found a man with eyes showing fear. Bending down he quickly observed the man in front, concluding he was dead due to the fact that he had no pulse.

Looking across to the other figure, a young girl, Sasuke noted that she was probably the man's daughter. Going closer to have a better look, Sasuke was soon to find a surprise. On the child's forehead was a protector indicating she was from Konoha.

_They were probably killed by some ninja, _he thought. But at that point, he saw the girl in front of him stir. Her eye lids flickered open, revealing eyes, with no colour.

"She' s a Hyuuga!" Sasuke whispered to himself clearly showing the surprise in his voice.

The young Hyuuga soon drifted off again, leaving Sasuke over-whelmed with thoughts, _why would a young Hyuuga be here, near the Sand Village?_ Taking in his surroundings, the floor was covered in weapons and two places had a circular hole engraved into it. The holes were quite large but weren't very deep. _A fight happened? Could it be possible that she was fighting the man over there? I should kill her before she knows of my existence here. But something is stopping me, why can' t I seem to have to urge to kill her? There' s like a wall preventing me. What is it? _

Question after question appeared but were all left unanswered. By then, the sun had fully set, leaving the forest surrounded in darkness. Winds were coming in and the young child laid there, shivering in her sleep. Taking off his coat, he quickly draped it over the Hyuuga. _Why am I like this? I could kill her easily, but here I am helping her as if trying to keep her alive. _

Turning around, he left her and headed for a nearby tree, before falling to sleep.

* * *

Neji and his group had decided to stop for the day. They had covered a lot of ground just from the afternoon onwards and stopped on the edge of the forest. Sakura, Tenten and Kiba were setting up their tent while the others went in search for some fire wood. Their tent was enough to hold six people at once but to group had other thoughts. 

During dinner, which consisted of plain bread, water and some fruit; everyone remained quiet as there was nothing to talk about. The fire was giving warmth and light to them. Soon, the silence was broken off by Naruto complaining that he was still hungry but the others just left him be, as his punishment for waking up late and forgetting about breakfast.

They discussed what was going to happen for the night and concluding that they should at least have someone on guard.

"We have six of us, but one person on guard might be dangerous," Kiba stated out with Akamaru lying on his lap, asleep.

"We' ll do it in pairs," Tenten announced and her voice was some what stern meaning there was no defying allowed.

"YOSH!" yelled out, Lee while performing his pose and his teeth went 'pling' . "Sakura-san why don' t we be partners?" he asked, turning towards Sakura who once again, remained emotionless.

Naruto was furious by this and shouted at Lee, "FURRY EYEBROWS! Sakura-chan is with me."

From the commotion no one seemed to notice the dangerous aura appearing around Neji. His eyes were twitching from the annoyance, taking no more he stated to the two in a low and stern voice."You two are not paired with her, I have already worked it out, so you two can act more like adults." Neji sighed before continuing, "Sakura you and Tenten will be on first shift. Next will be Naruto and Lee, and last will be Kiba and me."

That left, two shocked Jounins but notlong later, the group said goodnight and headed for bed, leaving Sakura and Tenten on guard.

Tenten seemed nervous of their silence and decided to break it after a few minutes. "Sakura,"

"Hm," Sakura replied not even bothering to turn around.

"You shouldn' t act so emotionless, you weren' t like this before." Tenten told her, "You should think about being more open, I don' t mean like Naruto and Lee but some more happiness should do you better."

"..."

"One can only get stronger with the happiness you share of another. Happiness and friendship makes one strive for more. That' s why, Sakura, you shouldn' t be as distant."

The younger of the two turned and stared at her. Sakura was kind of shock to hear this coming from the older girl. True, Tenten had grown a lot stronger possibly matching to Neji's and Lee' s. Yet, where ever she was there was always a smile on her face. A question was running through Sakura's head, _does happiness really make one strive for success? _

For the rest of their guard duty, the two never spoke another word. After that, the next pair came out in switching positions. The night dragged on like this, till morning.

* * *

Hinata had been following the dark tunnel but it surprised her as to how long it was. She continued walking through the single tunnel towards where she hoped was the escape route. Only that was what she thought, she indeed did reach the end but not only to find three people guarding the entrance. Turning around, the three looked up in surprise by how she found the way out. 

She was growing weak since she hadn' t eaten anything since the morning when Hanabi and she were training. Looking up into the sky she saw the moon shining along with stars circling it.

One of the guards whispered to the others, "She' s gotten out, what should we do?"

The other one who sounded like a female replied, "Out job is to keep her in here and not to let her go. The other weakling left before but Kitano is after her so that is no problem. But about this one, we don' t have to fight her unless she tries to run away. The boss said to keep her in top shape meaning se are to do nothing to harm her. Do whatever she wants you to do just as long she doesn' t try to leave. Understood?"

The other two nodded in agreement before turning to Hinata asking her if she was hungry. Hinata who was clearly shocked by this question just nodded a bit, though she had to keep her guard, they could end up giving her poisoned food.

Taking out from a pack, one of them withdrew a bun and a water bottle and handed it to her. The food seemed normal enough but she still checked it beforehand. Realising it was indeed perfectly fine; she bit into the food which to her tasted delicious. Even the water was welcoming but just because she seemed like she was innocent and weak, Hinata was surveying her surroundings. There were three guards, one female and two male, they seemed ready to stop her if she wanted to escape. She didn' t know how strong they were but she could do that later. She didn' t know their names nor of what village they were from, just like her kidnappers but she didn' t believe they were the. But they were still the enemy so Hinata couldn' t trust them. Hanabi was no where in sight; Hinata could only hope she was safe. Soon it was time to rest, one of the handed her a blanket to keep her warm during the night.

The female walked up to her and introduced herself before turning away, "Hyuuga-sama, the one over there (pointing to the one she had seen earlier who was whispering) is Shiruko and the other is Yoshiru (indicating to the man who had handed her the blanket and I' m Rika. We hope to be of your help when you need us."

"Yes, i...i..see," Hinata stuttered then turning over to have a rest.

* * *

Early next morning, the six man team had finished packing and were already to head off. They had eaten breakfast early enough to be able to run over some other instructions. 

"We have about three or four days before we get to the Sand Village. Hopefully Hinata and Hanabi are okay," announced Tenten.

YOSH! Let us do our best!" shouted an excited Lee. While Naruto seemed barely awake, he kept yawning and rubbing his eyes. Neji just looked annoyed at his loud mouth friend; it was a wonder why he had brought him along. Sakura was smiling while playing with Akamaru and talking to Kiba which surprised a few people, one of them being Tenten.

_The girl has already changed after what I said last night, _thought Tenten bring a smile to her face.

Neji was wondering why Tenten had such a smile on her face at this time. Following her line of sight, he spotted the medic smiling. Seeing something had already changed overnight, he wondered what Tenten had said to her, shrugging it off, signalling the others to get ready to leave. Within moments they were off, heading for the Sand Village.

* * *

Hanabi stirred, her back was sore all over from having to sleep on the hard floor. She felt something warm against her body, soon realise there was a coat. Sitting up, she saw a young man eating a piece of bread and at the sight of it, Hanabi's tummy grumbled. Noticing her presence, Sasuke turned and looked at her only to see fear in her eyes. 

"You' re...you' re the missing-nin, Uchiha Sasuke," she stammered clearly indicating fear as her voice was quivering.

"Don' t stress, I won' t hurt you," Sasuke replied and he could almost hit himself for saying that. To Hanabi, his voice was like a sword slicing through the air. Suddenly remembering about her fight, she tried to look around for her enemy. _Could the enemy have been Sasuke? _She thought, _but that would be impossible. I remember killing him. _True enough, laying a few feets away from her was her battered opponent who lost while underestimating her. Suddenly someone handed her a piece of bread, looking up she saw Sasuke. She took it slowly before mumbling thanks. Though the sun was up, the temperature was just as low but the coat provided her with warmth.

"Um...is this your coat?" she asked Sasuke.

"Keep it," was the reply she got from the missing-nin.

"Thanks," Hanabi said softly then started on her bread.

Sasuke's mind was still filled with questions yet all of them remained unanswered. He was to kill her but something huge was blocking him from doing so. Unscrewing the lid of his water bottle, he handed it to her, who took it gratefully, soon returning it to him.

Hanabi was surprised at the Uchiha' s kindness. Back in Konoha before he left the village most people described him as a 'human ice cube' along with her cousin, Neji who also held up this name. After the short breakfast, Sasuke was packing everything ready to leave, when something hit her. She was lost now and had no idea where to go or where she was. Thinking maybe the missing-nin could help her she asked him, "I' m lost and I don' t know where I am, I want to go back to Konoha. Do you think you could um...tell me which way?"

Sasuke was shocked by this Hyuuga asking him to tell her how to get back to Konoha which was his home but that was five years ago. He didn't have the slightest idea where it was located, due to the fact he never returned. Turning around to face the young girl, he replied, "You should follow me." This sounded more of an order than just a plain piece of advice.

Since Hanabi had no where to go she decided to do as he was told and follow the Uchiha, hoping he could return her home but half of her doubt it. With that, the two headed for a destination away from the Sand Village. There was complete silence along the journey in which Hanabi didn' t mind. She was exploring things that she had never seen before. Sasuke never even cared, he head was still filled with questions that kept coming and coming. The young Hyuuga that was following him was definitely changing his thoughts. Noon arrived and the two sat down for their break, but no one uttered a word. Hanabi wasn't nervous about the silence at all, after all she lived in a house hold filled with this treatment.

Sasuke recalled that he didn't know her name but she knew his, quickly turning his attention to her, he asked away, "Your name?"

Realising the question was directed to her she replied without showing any fear in her eyes, "Hyuuga Hanabi, sister of Hyuuga Hinata."

"You' re that 'ice cube's' cousin?" he asked again showing some emotions on his face but was replaced quickly who his emotionless one.

Hanabi soon realised he was talking about Neji; she was surprised he even remembered anything; all she did was nod an answer. That soon let their lunch continue in silence.

* * *

In search for Hinata and Hanabi, the group settled down for a quick break and lunch. Everyone had some of fruit which surprisingly was cut up by Lee while Kiba grab some doggy biscuits from his pack for Akamaru. . The six sat in silence; even Lee and Naruto were quiet, keeping their guard to the maximum. Once again, they had covered a lot of ground since the morning. They were out of Konoha's territory and were getting close to the Sand's land. The group headed off again, continuing on their mission.

* * *

**A/N: **I updated this chapter quite fast but it will take longer for the others to come out. The school term has started again so i would be able to update that fast. So please do be patient. Neji x Tenten pairing will appear in the next chapter, so look forward to that. 

The Gandhara- Once again, thanks for your help. Actually as you can see from reading, Hinata can't escape that easily. They left the three to guard her. But besides from that, your review was again, very helpful. Thank you.

Tears like Crystals- The story so far isn't up to that point yet. But they should meet up in two chapters after this one. Don't worry, they will meet for sure. Thanks for the review and i'm glad you like the story.

Neji x Tenten- I'm glad you liked it.

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz- It's great you find Neji and Tenten cute. But they are of course. Great to hear that you like it. Ja ne

Other reviews/readers- Please continue to read and review me if you have something to say about it. But besides from that, have fun reading.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The team of six continued through the forest in silence but that was cut when Naruto' s stomach was growling for food since their lunch hadn' t consisted of much. He silently cursed himself for having to wake up late, the day they were to meet up in which made him miss out on breakfast. Not only that, he was soon sent on a mission to bring back the two Hyuugas-Hinata and Hanabi. He trusted the Hyuuga heir a lot and supported her but he still like the distant, pink headed girl.

He spoke up to the others, "Hey you guys, I don' t know about you by my tummy is begging for food. Why don' t we rest up for a while?"

The other five moved onwards without giving the slightest hint that they had heard him. Naruto' s tummy, once again, grumbled which almost sounded like the Kyuubi growling but even if it was quite soft, the others still heard it. Clutching his stomach, he continued, following even in his state.

Turning his head slightly, Kiba spoke up to the blond, "Already hungry!" laughing a bit before digging something out from his pocket and throwing it to the fox boy.

Looking down at what he caught, he found two biscuits. Lifting his head up, he nodded a thanks to Kiba then stuffing them into his mouth to suppress his hunger. For the rest of that day, their mission continued in silence.

Soon, they once again set up camp for the night. Their distance to the Sand Village was closing, so it was best to keep their guard. Their dinner was made up of fruit, bread and water; even now, everyone kept quiet including Naruto and Lee. It was surprising that night, the two usually shouted at each other about any reason but for the time being, they were both as quiet as a mouse. That left the four with silence but only for a while. Kiba and Akamaru had chosen to start a conversation with Sakura and Tenten. Neji, who was meditating at the base of a nearby tree with his eyes closed, easily heard what they were consulting about.

"Do you think I could switch guard positions with you?" Kiba asked the weapon mistress.

Giving the dog boy a curious look she replied, "Why?"

"Well, Neji is a nice person but at night it is freaky. Besides you' re his team-mate so you would be more comfortable around him." Even Akamaru barked in agreement. "See, even Akamaru agrees." Kiba bent down to pick up his dog, who hadn' t grown much over the years.

"Do you think Neji will agree?" Sakura spoke up after the silence was becoming irritating. "Why not ask?"

The threesome walked towards the silent Hyuuga, who once sensing their presence opened his eyes, revealing white, moonlike orbs.

"Neji, the…" Tenten started but was cut off by him.

"I don' t care about the positions as long as there are two."

Kiba's eyes were the size of tennis balls while his jaw hung open, "You heard what we were saying!"

"Hn," said Neji before closing his eyes and returning to his mediation.

The camp was once again silent or it was until.

"SAKURA-CHAN, WHY DON'T WE DO GUARD SHIFT TOGETHER!" yelled Naruto.

"SAKURA-SAN, WHY DON'T WE DO GUARD SHIFT TOGETHER!" yelled Lee.

"NOT WITH YOU!" they shouted in unison.

Tenten was getting annoyed at the two and within a second she had pinned them to the nearest tree. Giving both a glare she spoke in a threatening voice, "You two better stay quiet or else I' ll be happy to have two new targets for target practice." Holding up one of her prize kunais to her eyes, they could clearly see the sharpness, even in the darkness. "Will you two ever stop acting like this? You' re giving everyone a headache. You will do guard shift TOGETHER and for the coming nights."

Both Naruto and Lee started to complain but it ended up with having a kunai placed a millimetre away from their throats. The two gulped and remained silent; giving a satisfied grin she turned back to the others. Sakura and Kiba both gave her a thankful smile but not only them but Neji too, gave her a slight smile which was directed at her.

Her heart even felt like melting but she didn' t let it happen. She had fallen for the Hyuuga prodigy, a cold-hearted person but not to her, her team-mate, her sparring partner and possibly, her best friend. But she never told him her feelings and that was to stay the same. Her thoughts were interrupted by Neji.

"We should get some rest, Naruto and Lee first, Kiba and Sakura second. Tenten and I will take up last."

That left the two loudmouths in shock, sending deadly glares at Kiba. But since they were still pinned to the tree, they didn' t have to chance to launch themselves at boy. Akamaru just barked at the sight of them, then ran over to Tenten, tugging at the end of her pants. Looking down she saw the dog and Akamaru who knew he had gotten her attention, turned his head to Naruto and Lee.

Sighing, she removed them from the tree but once freed, they charged rapidly for Kiba. Luckily Neji came to the rescue, shouting the names of the two idiots. From the tone of his voice, it was something you shouldn' t mess with, so the two withdrew taking up their guard posts. That let the others, a time to rest up for the coming day.

"Naruto, I will definitely win Sakura-san' s heart," Lee spoke up then giving off a 'good guy' pose.

"I will, not you," replied Naruto.

Surprisingly, the two continued to have an argument, even at night but luckily they weren' t loud or else they would' ve woken up, the others.

"Sakura-san is the most beautiful flower of Konoha."

"She will never fall for you, furry eyebrows."

Changing the subject Lee spoke up, "Sakura-san has become quite distant probably because of Uchiha Sasuke."

At the mention of the Uchiha' s name, Naruto' s insides were burning with anger. He had failed to track down Sasuke, everytime they had a mission. The S-missing-nin was certainly getting on his nerves. Naruto's fists were clenched tightly, almost turning white.

_Sasuke-teme, I will definitely bring him back and I will personally punish him for what he has made Sakura-chan be like, _Naruto thought.

Sensing the wave of anger from his comrade, Lee decided to keep quiet and let Naruto sort out his own problems.

Soon, they swapped positions with Sakura and Kiba, getting some rest-themselves. The two didn' t have any problems; both seemed joyful even at the lateness. Talking about their missions, time passed rapidly. Sakura, indeed had started to open up more, like a bud ready to bloom. It wasn' t long before the last two came out, to switch. Tenten flashed a warm smile to the pink headed girl who in return nodded her head.

The two situated themselves at the base of a tree. Everyone couple of minutes, either one would sneak a glance at the other, causing them to both blush in a faint shade of red. There had been no exchange of words for sometime and the tension was getting to Tenten. Grabbing a kunai from her holster, she started playing with it-twirling it up, down and around. Neji was probably the only person who knew this but when ever the weapon mistress was nervous, she would always grab a weapon and fiddle with it.

Though Tenten had spent a lot of time around the Hyuuga, whether it was for training or just meeting up, she never felt anything like how she was feeling now. It felt as if something was wrong, or something unexpected was going to happen, a feeling she, herself couldn't explain. No wonder Kiba said it was freaky, doing guard shift with Neji. A small grin, cracked onto her face and being a genius, Neji quickly spotted the change of meed and gave her a curious look. Only in return, he got a warm smile, one he liked to see from her.

Over the years, he realised his team-mate had grown a lot. At the beginning of their genin years, he considered her as a girl not suitable for becoming a ninja. But that was where he was wrong, Tenten was different from the others girls, she never cared about her looks and never seemed to have an interest to jewellery but spent her time training. Everyday, she would join him and they would spar together and not once had she complained. She was the only person, he trusted and it took him a while, but he soon realised how important, she was to him. Now sitting next to him, was her-a Jounin. They complete many missions together as a pair never failing. He started to have feelings for her, he felt hatred when other males ask her for a date or those who flirted with her and to his relief, she always refused. He thought, _do...do I love her? Is she really this important to me? Why? _

Tenten decided to break the silence, "Neji...have you ever fallen in love?"

Neji was taken clearly shocked, his eyes widened for a moment but returned to normal, along with his facial expressions. He never expected to be asked this question, let along to be the one answering it. He hadn' t thought of it much, training was always first on his priority. His grudge for the main family was more important than this or was it? Years had passed and slowly, he let Hinata go, she no longer was a problem to him and nor was her sister. His uncle was an exception, sometimes he felt as if he should let him go but other times were different. Instead of taking his revenge out on Hinata, he protected her just like he did to his female team-mate. He would take his anger out, on other main family members.

After a few minutes of silence, Neji finally answered, "Y…yes."

Tenten' s heart started to feel weak, she held back tears that were ready to explode and lat out all her sorrow but she didn' t. Keeping her voice as stable, as possible, she managed to say, "May I ask who?"

Once again, the prodigy didn' t know how to answer this; he wasn' t the one who deserved her. He was a branch member and wouldn' t be able to provide her with many things. She was someone who deserved someone better than him. He didn't want her to suffer the same fate as his father or as a branch member. She was perfect and he was not, it wouldn't work. He remembered Lee once told him that Tenten was quite fond of him, someone she wanted to be as strong as.

_Is it possible that she would like me in a way besides being a friend? No. That will never happen; fate will never let it pass. _

He mentally cursed himself for saying yes to the question before, he couldn' t say anyone, he had to say someone or something.

"A girl," he spoke up after the silence.

The weapon mistress' s heart ached and felt as if a knife had pierced into it. She knew it was impossible for him to see her as something different, other than a team-mate and sparring partner.

"She' s always determined and strong. She is no longer weak, like she was in the genin years."

She knew it; the girl he likes was Sakura. She was the best medic after the Hokage and she was always determined. Sakura was no longer the weakling five years ago, she was a new person. But she knew it would be coming, she herself wasn't someone that attracted much attention. Only her status was widely known throughout Konoha. But Sakura had fame, everywhere, other villages would sometimes come all the way just to see her and get treatment. The medical-nin was also famous for her looks, which caught a lot of attention, including the cold-hearted Hyuuga prodigy. That was where Tenten was wrong.

"A person who takes care of me when I' m seriously injured," Neji continued.

The more Neji spoke of the girl he like, the more her heart seemed to wear away, the descriptions all pointed to the pink headed girl.

"Someone who comforts me," he spoke again. "Someone that is mostly by my side and a person I want by my side for the rest of my life, if only fate could allow it."

Tears started appearing in her eyes and down her face; the moonlight glistened off it. Neji was just confused by this sight, he knew Tenten was strong, he had never seen her cry for a long time, and she could conceal those emotions everytime. But now she could seem to control them, something big enough to cause her to act like this. He had an urge to hug her and comfort her and that was what he did. Slowly, he placed his arms around the weeping girl and pulled her into an embrace.

Feeling the strong arms around her, made her cry even more, she buried her head into his silky hair and let out some of her sorrow. She thought, _he' s just being a good friend and comforting me. This doesn' t mean anything. _

Her tears eventually dried up taking some of her sorrow away, but her heart stayed the same-hurt and torn. Backing away from Neji, she mumbled thanks. Very slowly and softly she said, "You should tell Sakura your feelings about her or else you will never get her."

That left Neji once again, confused. He replayed their conversation and finally understood his team-mate' s words. No wonder she cried, he knew she like him a lot but he never spoke of it. It hurt him, just to know it was himself that had caused the sudden emotions from his female companion.

"No, I' ll tell her now," Neji said quietly. He turned to Tenten and stared intensely into her dark, coloured eyes. He would define fate again, like he did once at the Chuunin exam and what he did to Hinata.

"Tenten, I love you."

The weapon mistress scanned his eyes, and then she was silent.

"I never told you before because...because I thought that I didn' t deserve you. But I can' t keep my feelings inside; I have to let them happen, even if I have to defy fate. I love everything of you. I love you," he spoke to her in a soft way before bending forwards and giving her a kiss on her lips. Drawing back he looked at the weapon mistress who was still shock at what happened.

"N…Ne…Neji!" she stammered. Inside, she felt like the happiest person alive but her body seemed frozen in place.

"Lee told me once that you admired me," her team-mate answered.

Tenten' s facial expressions changed and were replaced by one of her warm smiles. The words gradually left her mouth but Neji caught everyone of them, "I love you, too."

Neji pulled her head slowly to his shoulder and allowed her to rest there, the two stayed like this until sunrise. The pair was too into each other and didn' t realise that the other four had been listening to their whole conversation. Inside the tent, all four were giving off smiles.

Breakfast was soon served and within a few minutes they were off again, everyone returned to normal, especially Neji who had his emotionless face on. That day started off with happiness, everyone enjoyed the others company. More surprises were going to come along their way.

* * *

**A/N: **Another chapter done! I hope you like the Neji x Tenten part. Please continue reading and review. Thank you! 

The Gandhara- I think i am pretty much going downhill with the story and i'll try my best to make it better. Actuallyeven Sasuke doesn't know why he acts that way. His body is moving to its own accord. The captor was indeed playing a hunting game but he underestimated Hanabi so in the end, he died and never ended up catching Hanabi. More will be explained about that in the next two or three chapters. But thanks for reviewing, you really help me a lot. Thank you!

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz- Thanks for reviewing. I'll put more of that stuff you want. Ja ne

kawaii- I'm grateful that you like my story and i will of course continue it to the end. Thanks for the review.

Other reviewers/readers- Please contnue reading and reviewing. Thanks!


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The night Neji had confessed his love for Tenten had been a wonderful night for the two but for Hinata, it was different. She had slept for about a day and a half and was woken up halfway through the night by the sound of four voices. Though they were whispering, she could clearly hear them and luckily, none of them realised a fifth person listening, her. She could make out three familiar voices which probably belonged to Rika, Shiruko and Yoshiru but she couldn't make out who the last voice belonged to.

Suddenly that voice spoke up quietly but the tone was angry, "You idiots! How many times do I have to tell you people? I ordered it to be done and where have you gotten?"

The female voice stuttered, "For…give me….boss….but Kitano hasn't…arrived with the other Hyuuga…so we haven't….put the plan to action, yet."

"What a bunch of lame excuses, I asked for the top four ninjas and they give me, you lot!"

Shiruko whispered something that Hinata couldn't pick up but it wounded something like, "We should be quiet or else she would be able to hear us is she wakes up."

"Start the plan immediately!" the boss announced angrily to the three.

"But…Kitano and the other one aren't here yet," Yoshiru spoke up.

"Forget about him, he won't even be able to continue, such a pathetic ninja."

"Wh…why?" Rika asked hesitantly.

"He was killed by the other Hyuuga who you all called her a weakling. His body is lying cold on the forest floor. You are suppose to be the best but be defeated by a mere lower ninja is too far!" their boss informed them.

"Start the plan at sunrise, you know what to do and don't disappoint me. If you do, I'll hire a group of ninjas to hunt you down and bring me back your heads!"

"Ye…yes," the three replied, shaking a little from fear.

With that the boss, left at rapid speed leaving the three and Hinata stunned. Hinata decided to fake a sleep before they would realise she was awake. The sun was stating to rise and soon, Rika quickly woke up Hinata, telling her to get ready for a trip to somewhere she didn't mention. They ate their breakfast faster than usual and left within a few minutes, heading towards a forest.

Rika was leading with Hinata behind her and the other two behind her, seemingly guarding her so she couldn't escape. They continued in silence only breaking it to talk about small things but they never gave away, as to where they were headed. Hinata had no idea where she was, and all the trees just made it even more confusing.

_Where am I! I can't even tell whether if we are headed north, south, east or west. If I'm lost here, where would Hanabi be? Last night, I swear I heard them say, that someone who was chasing after her had died. Hopefully she escaped and mad it back home, _she thought.

* * *

Elsewhere, Sasuke and Hanabi were continuing their journey towards Konoha. Sasuke had decided to go back and hopefully be able to serve under the village again. But in return he wanted to know more information as to the whereabouts of his brother, Uchiha Itachi. They might allow him to stay in the village if he did something in return like returning the Hyuuga back to the village so Sasuke would not allow her to get hurt in anyway as it might shorten his chance of getting information on Itachi. The two continued in silence but Hanabi didn't seem to mind, she had been enjoying the time even when they were in danger. Like what had happened yesterday had been an experience to her. 

_Flashback_

_They were passing through a small village which wasn't well known but when one of the guards saw them he called out to them, "Halt!"_

_They stopped for a few seconds and more questions were thrown at them._

"_State your reason."_

"_Not stating a reason, doesn't give you a pass to enter the village."_

_The man soon noticed Hanabi's forehead protector and on Sasuke's forehead was the same one with a slash across it. _

"_Konoha ninjas! What are you doing here? We haven't any request for ninja's, state you reason."_

_The guard had asked so many questions at once that it didn't leave them any chance to answer till the end. _

"_I have no intention in telling you. Someone from such a low village does not deserve my attention," Sasuke spoke coolly in his low voice._

"_Why you! How dare you!" the guard called out angrily while grabbing a katana removing it from its sheath before motioning for others to join him. _

"_You will pay. I'll have you know this village may be small and unheard of but it is strong. Our ninja's are Chuunins or ranks above that. You will pay for your insult to the village" the guard said to Sasuke before charging at Hanabi. _

"_I'll kill the weakest one first and leave the fun for last," he called out. _

_Hanabi wanted to fight and was already getting into her gentle fist stance. She was about to lunge forward when she felt herself flying in the other direction. Looking up she saw Sasuke pulling her away from the battle. _

"_Hey I want to fight too!" she yelled at him but the Uchiha ignored her but after a few seconds replied._

"_You will, later but stay away from the fight." _

_He placed her, a great distance away from the enemy and turned his attention to the approaching ninjas. _

"_You can't beat us, it is ten against one or should I say one and a half, since that lower ninja behind you looks like a weakling," the guard called out to Sasuke._

_A smirk appeared on his face and he replied, "We will see about that."_

_This made the enemy fumed and they charged at Sasuke but being an S-ranked missing nin, he had no problems defeating them. One by one fell to the earth and Hanabi just watched in amazement as blood scattered itself on the floor. Sasuke was about to finish killing the last one but he stopped remembering what he had said a couple of minutes, earlier. He motioned for Hanabi to come over and said to her, "You wanted to fight. Here." _

_Handing the guard to her and he himself stepped back and watched as the young Hyuuga perform her Gentle fist on the guard. Within moments, the guard was left lying on the floor; he was clearly surprised how one ninja could defeat all of then at once. He turned his head slightly to see a girl with white eyes glaring at him and the man next to her, with onyx eyes, eyes that turned red for a second before returning to normal. _

_It took him a while but it finally came to him, the man was none other than a person of Uchiha blood and the girl belonging to the famous Hyuuga Clan. Inside his mind, he was thinking how stupid he was underestimating the two and how he has caused the village's strength to drop. But nothing could be changed because soon he too, passed away. _

_End of Flashback. _

The two soon stopped for lunch and continued with their journey in complete silence.

* * *

Hinata and her group also stopped for lunch; they chose to have a break near a flowing river where they refilled their water bottles before heading onwards. Not once had told Hinata where they were headed yet they all seemed to know where, except for her. She remained silent only to talk when asked a question. 

_I have a feeling something bad is going to happen. I have to think of a way to escape soon or else I could get into a heap of problems, _she thought to herself.

After lunch they continued to their destination where Hinata was still confused about.

* * *

Hiashi was deeply worried about his two daughters even if he didn't show it. He had informed a close family member about it but every time he came to report on the topic, it was always the same. The scroll was kept safely with him and at night it was guarded by both branch and main family members. Though none of them knew about Hinata and Hanabi, many were starting to get suspicious and even more with the leave of the branch prodigy. 

He sighed and was wondering how long it would take for the mission to be accomplished but he doubt that it would take long with Neji conducting the mission. Neji had grown stronger as the years went by, and trying to defeat him was going to be hard. His nephew trained in every free time, either if it was with himself, him or his female companion. Hiashi soon saw a new light from Neji, one that was only for his bun-headed friend.

The friendship with his female team-mate had grown a lot stronger and maybe into something more but Hiashi was grateful to that. As their friendship grew, Neji's hatred for some main family members started to subdue.

_I really need to have a talk with that Tenten girl, after she comes back from the mission, _Hiashi thought before drifting to some other thoughts.

* * *

The six man team were planning to rest up after their long day of travel, they would be able to arrive in the sand village by early afternoon tomorrow but now they needed to rest up. They had found a nearby clearing were they had decided to set up camp for the day. In order to cover more ground, they had skipped lunch so their dinner consisted of more than usual. During dinner, Neji and Tenten couldn't help noticing the stare they were getting from the other four. Sakura nudged Tenten softly where as Naruto, Lee and Kiba kept sending strange smiles to Neji. This continued for about ten minutes until both were getting really irritated and a dangerous aura was appearing from the two. 

"What is wrong with you four!" Tenten yelled at them, clearly annoyed.

Lee answered for them, "TENTEN! YOU HAVE BECOME SUCH A BEAUTIFUL FLOWER! but not as beautiful as my Sakura-san. I'M HAPPY FOR NEJI AND YOU BECAUSE SOON THERE WILL BE MORE SEEDLINGS WHICH WILL GROW INTO BUDS AND LATER INTO FLOWERS."

Lee had gone a bit too far because soon a fist from Neji and a foot from Tenten connected with him, leaving him with two huge bruises.

"Lee, your annoying, shut up," Neji spoke in an angry tone.

"Well you two are together, aren't you?" Kiba asked, "So you don't have to deny it."

"W..what! How! When!" Tenten asked who was clearly shocked.

The four again gave off smiles that were starting to scare her a bit.

"Last night!" an excited Naruto answered for them.

That left the two blushing like mad turning into tomatoes, ones that were too ripe.

"We're all happy for you two, you are meant for each other," Sakura spoke up trying to save them from being embarrassed for so long.

Hinata's group had been travelling for a long time and the sun was setting leaving a minimum amount of light. They had spotted a small clearly just ahead and were planning to stay there, for the night. Hinata still hadn't thought of a plan to escape yet but she told herself she would think of one, tonight.

Sasuke and Hanabi were getting worn out from their journey to Konoha and they had spotted a small clearing up ahead to stay for the night.  
The team of six were about to head off to bed when they heard two rustles on opposite sides. The group quickly go on their guard and grab a weapon from their holster, ready for action. The rustling subsided and from the two places, out stepped Sasuke and Hanabi from one; and the three with Hinata from another.

The twelve people stared at each other with their mouths hanging open, except for Sasuke and Neji who were trying their hardest to stop the facial expressions to appear. But that failed because soon a chorus was heard, "WHAT!"

* * *

**A/N:** Finally done! I know this is a short chapter, Sorry! Hopefully you liked this chaper! There will be some Sasuke and Sakura fluff in the next chapter, i promise and maybe some others but there will definatly be SasukexSakura. I've posted up a ONESHOT of Neji x Tenten. Reviews please! 

The Gandhara- Thank you for the reiview. Tenten probably is the best character here, but i'm not excatly sure. I'm glad you like the love scene of Neji x Tenten. Anyway, thanks again for the review.

Swaying Mercury- I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for reviewing!

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz- Their will be more of the triangle soon. Thanks for the review. Ja ne.

Tears like Crystals- Sasuke has finally met up with the others. Thats what you wanted, right? I hope this will make you happy. Thanks for the review.

Other reviews/readers- please continue to read and reviews will be very helpful. Thanks fro reading!


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

The look of confusion was printed on everyone's faces; even on the two ice cubes (Neji and Sasuke). They were all clearly shock at the sight in front of them, which consisted of Two Hyuugas, a missing-nin and three others.

Naruto spotted the missing-nin, a few paces away and charged at him throwing a punch but Sasuke was alert even due to his shock and dodged the incoming attack. He spoke up and his voice, slicing the air like a knife, "Naruto…"

Turning back to his old 'team-mate' he tried staring him down but once again, Sasuke prevailed. Over the years, Sasuke hated the fact that Naruto was becoming stronger; he seeked out for Orochimaru only to find that the snake lord couldn't provide enough power to make him satisfied. With that conclusion, Sasuke had eliminated the lord, sending him to his grave. Yet this had become unknown, many still thought Orochimaru was still out there and feared every minute of their life.

Standing further back was his other 'team-mate', one that he found annoying back in their genin years. She acknowledged his presence by saying in a menacing tone, one that he had never heard of, "Uchiha Sasuke."

Neji eyed each of the people he saw and his two cousins on either side, Hinata was with a group of three and Hanabi seemed to have been with the Uchiha. They hadn't even reached the sand yet but in front of them now, were the two people he was looking for. Hanabi looked out of danger and was staring intensely at the members of Team 7.

"Lee, you and Kiba go over to Hanabi and keep her away from danger, if Uchiha, Uzumaki and Haruno start fighting," Neji ordered to two of his team.

"Okay," the two said in unison and left for the younger Hyuuga.

He turned his attention to the three around Hinata and the feel of their chakra wasn't welcoming. _Hinata looks pale and their chakra feels strong._

"Their chakra level seems dangerous, no wonder Hinata looks frightened," Tenten whispered into his ear, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Hn"

The three had seemingly circled around Hinata, either it was to protect her or prevent her from escaping but he wasn't sure, which. Hinata had been so surprised at the sight of all her Konoha friends that she wanted to go up to them but she was stopped by one of the three. She had missed them terribly even if it had been about a week and her heart jump with joy, especially seeing Naruto. Rika, Yoshiru and Shiruko surrounded her as if preventing her from escaping; they circled her leaving her trapped in between, disabling her sight as to what was happening.

Noticing this movement, both Neji and Tenten stepped forward trying to stare them down. _By the looks of their actions just then it seems like they're not protecting her but preventing her from getting away, _the two thought. Silence filled the air and the only sounds were the ones from the match between Team 7.

Sasuke turned to face his two 'team-mates', they had changed, especially Sakura. She no longer seemed like the girl that was always girly and fighting over useless stuff. No, she had improved and changed a lot over these five years. Her eyes no longer showed happiness but coldness and her facial expression remained the same, not cracking any emotion. _She's like me when I was a genin, I never showed emotions. It's just the same way I was like. She has changed too much; it's like knowing a block of ice. NO! I have to focus on killing Itachi, the past is the past. I need to forget about it, _Sasuke thought.

Naruto interrupted his thoughts yelling words at him, "Sasuke-teme! I will never forgive you for what you have done!"

The missing-nin turned and faced the blonde and asked confusingly although it didn't show, "I have done nothing, what is your problem?"

The fox boy just clenched his fist until his knuckles turned white and from his anger, he once again charged, flinging two kunais at him. Sakura followed by attempting to connect a foot on the Uchiha's back. But it was useless; his sharingan was activated making all taijutsu useless against him. The two retreated back, giving each other a small nod, they attacked again. Sakura performed some hand seals and charka appeared around her hands, taking shape of a shape razor like object. (**A/N: **Okay, I'm just making these up, let's just say that Sakura had learned a lot more skills, Tsunade probably taught her but I'm not going into too much detail about that. It's the one Kabuto used against Tsunade back in episode...I can't remember. But hopefully you get the point.)

She hoped that it could stop Sasuke for a short time, enough to have Naruto attack with his rasengan. It was funny, she didn't seem worried at all, there she was now, trying to use any move to kill the person she once loved. But that was over or was it? She tried attacking his arms but he dodged them by a mere millimetre. Though it never came in contact, there were still effect; some of his muscles were cut even if the kunoichi's hands didn't touch. She continued to strike at him, never even pausing, yet she just continued trying and Sasuke being a prodigy, dodged most of them, some had lightly grazed him but he could endure the pain.

But he was more shocked about Sakura, had improved this much. He never expected the pink haired girl to grow so much. He had to focus so much on dodging her hands that it didn't give him a chance to attack.

Sakura continued, adding kicks and punches along with her attacks. She had managed to hit Sasuke; lightly on a couple of spots but it didn't seem to be able to slow the Uchiha down. Suddenly two kunais shot at them but it was unsure for whom. The two sensed it coming and dodged it but failed to notice explosive tags were wrapped around it. The explosion sent both Sasuke and Sakura flying backwards; the pink haired girl slammed roughly into a tree whereas Sasuke quickly tried to regain his footing.

_Damn! I can't attack. Sakura-chan is getting in the way and I'll start making thing worst, _Naruto thought. He leapt rapidly to Sakura and along the way saw, Neji and Tenten, starting a fight against three unknowns.

* * *

Rika just looked back at the two Konoha ninjas and noticed there was another Hyuuga. She started whispering to the others so that Hinata couldn't hear what they were saying. 

"Hey look, if we can get that Hyuuga and that Hyuuga weakling over there, then we can be back on the top," she whispered to the other two.

"The one next to the girl looks really dangerous to fight, his chakra feels strong and one of us couldn't possibly defeat him," Shiruko replied softly.

"They want to fight," Yoshiru spoke up.

"What about the one we have?" Shiruko asked giving a nod to Hinata who in return gave a confused look.

"You take her away, find another place and we'll try to catch up with you but knock her out first," Rika replied before doing some hand seals.

Hinata saw Rika's hands moving making hand seals but it wasn't long before she started to feel strange and blacked out, within a few seconds.

Shiruko grabbed the limp body and turned to leave, but a couple of shuriken landed right at his feet. Looking up, he saw a angry glare from the Hyuuga and a girl holding some more weapons in her hand.

"Don't think you can get away that easy," she called to him and sent some more shurikens at him.

But they were deflected by Rika who called out, "Go! We'll hold them off for a while."

Tenten wanted to follow and was about to but Yoshiru stopped her, "Do you really think we'll let you go like that?"

The bun haired kunoichi leapt back to Neji who was giving their opponent a glare that could have sent them to their graves.

"Fight for now, but later I'll make a distraction so you can go after Hinata," Neji said to her.

"Okay,"

Seeing that the opponent wasn't going to make any moves, they decide to attack first with Tenten aiming weapons at the two. While they were dodging them, Neji tried sneaking from behind to use his Gentle Fist but when he did, the body turned into a puff of smoke leaving him attacking thin air.

_Kage Bushin, they aren't real bodies. It's a trap to make us fight these, lowering our chakra, _he thought.

"Tenten!" he called out but he saw she had already stopped with a small bunch of weapons imbedded in the ground. She just looked up and nodded.

Activating his byakugan, he surveyed the area around them trying to look for the two. He saw a mere glimpse of two moving objects far away, but disappeared soon from his sight. _They move fast, it's only been a couple of seconds and they're already out of my sight even with the byakugan. _He motioned for Tenten to follow him and the two headed further into the forest in search of the two.

* * *

The explosion from the fight between Team 7 had also knocked back Hanabi, Kiba and Lee but luckily suffering from minor injuries; whereas Sakura slammed into a tree which would have hurt twice as much. Lee wanted so much her so much but was pulled back by Kiba. 

"Our job is to prevent Hanabi from coming to any danger, not to protect the one you love. Sakura is strong; she won't go down, that easily."

"But Sakura-san will need my help," he complained.

Kiba sighed but refused to let hold of the green beast and with the help of Akamaru, they prevented him from running off. He turned to see, Naruto and Sakura heading deeper into the forest but separating after a few seconds. He saw Sasuke follow but his eyes quickly turned away when he felt a tug flowing through his arms.

With one last tug, Lee freed himself from Kiba's grip and ran off, after Sakura. He wanted to follow but his order was to protect Hanabi and it will stay that way. Looking over at the young Hyuuga he noticed that her attention was focused in another direction.

"I'm following Neji-nisan," she announced before running off, in the direction Tenten and Neji had went.

_Such an arrogant child; taking off like that. But orders are orders, _Kiba thought then following with Akamaru behind. Light only had a minimal supply left, as the sun was setting. Moving through the forest at night was dangerous, let along, a fight. _Better catch up.

* * *

_

Sakura had headed left whereas Naruto turned the other way, she was sure Sasuke would follow the blonde since he would put up more of a fight. But to be on the safe side, she continued into the forest even as darkness was surrounding her. It was a total shock for her to see Sasuke again, but with her new personality, she didn't show it. Back in their genin years, her love for Sasuke hadn't been anything more than a mere crush.

But that changed, she felt that her love for Sasuke was real, not just a stupid crush. Yet during these five years, she told herself to forget about him. She did, but only on the surface of her heart; deep down she knew that she still loved him and it can only be him, that can change her back to the way she was. Many people had tried to help her through this ice barrier but no one had been able to break it. No one, except for the one she loved most.

She snapped out of her thoughts when she sensed a strong chakra coming rapidly after her. Quickening her pace she hoped on losing her follower but that failed. Not sooner was she pushed roughly into the dirt by a punch from the enemy. Getting to her feet quickly, she looked up finding herself staring into onyx coloured eyes.

"Sa…su…ke?" she muttered under her breath.

"Sakura," he addressed the pink haired kunoichi, "You've changed."

Sakura remained silent for a while before looking at Sasuke, straight in the eye, "Sasuke, you haven't changed at all, still out for revenge as I can see."

"You are wrong and correct, I have changed but I still need to kill Itachi," he replied in a tone that was half mocking.

"That is no change, you're still the cold hearted person, I knew five years ago. You're exactly the same, someone who doesn't need love in their life," she told him.

"That is where I said I'm correct, you really have changed no more smile and weakness showing. You truly are someone stronger."

"Why are you here, shouldn't you be fighting Naruto instead of talking to boring and annoying me?" she asked him sounding bored about their conversation.

"I've fought Naruto before and I know he is strong, but I have never fought a match with you. I want to see how much you have changed," he replied, while doing a couple of hand seal before a big fireball came her way.

But she easily dodged I, after all her training, such a simple thing cannot defeat her. "It is my duty as a Konoha ninja to protect the Village. I don't know what you're planning but I will definitely bring you down even if it means, risking my life. Uchiha Sasuke, you're an S-ranked missing-nin of Konoha and bringing you down is my duty even if this isn't my set mission.'

Sasuke just smirked, "We'll see about that."

Sakura charged forward, taking out some shuriken and aiming it for him, but he easily dodged them. She anticipated that he would do that and threw a punch at him which sent him flying backwards. Not only had she learnt medic skills from Tsunade but also some of her super strength.

After getting on his feet, Sasuke's had shot up to his chest where Sakura had attacked.

_Such strong power, _he thought. _But you're no the only one who has improved. _His hands started performing another set of seals and a red glow started forming around his hands. (**A/N: **Remember, I'm only making these things up.) He lunged forward in order to attack Sakura.

Sakura had never seen this before; it was something she wasn't familiar with and she didn't want to find out what it could do. Sasuke speed suddenly went up a fold and it made it even more difficult to dodge. She hadn't been paying much attention to her footing because the next thing she knew, she had stumbled leaving a few sends off guard. Those few seconds were enough for Sasuke to hit her multiple times. She tried movie away but shock came to her when she could that she couldn't move her body. It was like as if her body was frozen; it prevented her hands from doing any hand seals and it sealed up anyway for her to use her strength.

A few meters away, Sasuke was once again performing a set of seals which turned out to be for 'chidori'. With her, unable to move, there was no way to escape so she closed her eyes awaiting the impact and pain. But to her surprise, there was none. Opening her eyes, she found that Sasuke had stopped the attack a reason, unknown to her.

"Why?" she asked him.

"I don't want to kill you," was his reply.

"Then why freeze my body!" she asked angrily.

"For you to listen as to what I have to say, I don't want another one of those punches connecting to my body."

Silence filled the air, the darkness had fully surrounded the area that made things difficult to see. Sakura could only work out the outline of his body.

"Well?" she asked him, starting to get impatient.

"Have you forgotten about love?"

This shocked her, she never expected this question and it was even more confusing to answer. She once knew about love but now days, those meanings seemed to have vanished. She never even thought much about it ever since Sasuke had left the village and never again had she wanted to show these feelings. Suddenly she felt a feeling she couldn't describe. Her blood was boiling but there was another feeling to it.

"Love? Why are you asking me, it should be directed at you! You were the one who said that love showed weakness. It is you that has made me like this. I won't allow myself to show weakness to you. All these years have past, back then, I really did like you more than a friend, but that was the past. Now, I've realised that back then I was just plain stupid. Why should I continue trying hen the person I love just ignored me! Do you have any idea how much pain I feel!" Sakura yelled at him, taking out all the anger.

"Sorry," these words came from his mouth and Sakura was taken aback, "I promise that won't ever happen again. You're not alone anymore, and you will never be again."

"Why are you telling me all this?" the kunoichi asked.

"I'm sorry for all the pain I've inflicted on you but at that time, things were different. It was only a couple of months ago when I found out an answer to my problems. Sakura…I truly love you and I wish one thing, is for you to return like you were before. You are one of my reasons for why I have chosen to return to Konoha. I want to see the smile on you face again and everything like you were before you went into this cold state. For I love you with all my heart."

"You…love…me?" Sakura whispered and slowly tears started rolling down her face.

Sasuke performed some seals and released her body from the cold. Sakura's body went limp all of a sudden and if Sasuke hadn't caught her, she would've fallen onto the floor. He hugged her body to his and moving his face closer, he bent down and slowly gave her a small but passionate kiss.

Sakura's eyes widened in shock, but they returned to normal when Sasuke gave her a small smile. In return she gave him a smile but this time, one that was real.

"I still love you Sasuke-kun, after all these years," She whispered to him before falling asleep due to the exhaustion.

_Hopefully I have bee a help to her, I really do love her but I never realised how much. I wish for her to return to normal and back into the happiness of life, _he thought. He too, fell asleep, resting his head on Sakura's shoulder.

* * *

**A/N: **Another chapter done! Hopefully you like it. Please review. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Lee ran rapidly in the direction Sakura turned; he would protect her no matter what. If Sasuke hurt her, he would definitely pay. The sun had set and darkness was already surrounding him but he refused to stop until he found Sakura.

Jumping down, he noticed two blurry figures on a side clearing. Approaching the pair, his eyes widened in shock when he realised who the two were. Even in the darkness, the pink from one was unmistakeable. Sasuke and Sakura were both in sleeping form; one look at the scene made Lee angry.

_Sasuke! Again! Why can it never be me! I will beat him in a match and defiantly win Sakura's heart, _he thought.

He sent a punch at the missing-nin but the last Uchiha besides Itachi, had his senses up even while resting. Dodging the punch, Sasuke broke apart from the pink headed kunoichi causing her to wake up from the sudden movement. Lee sent an angry glare at the Uchiha who in return gave one of his famous, death glares but this didn't affect the person in the spandex.

Sakura was trying to get her eyes to adjust to the darkness and when she finally did, her emerald eyes showed the two in a heated match.

_Lee-san can't fight Sasuke-kun, he will get hurt badly then we won't be able to complete our mission. I have to stop the match before it gets any worst than it already is, _she thought.

Sasuke rapidly perform some hand seals, making Lee jump back to be on his defence.

"Chidori!" Sasuke called out as chakra started taking form in his hand.

"Konoha Senpuu!" Lee called out whilst aiming some kicks at the missing-nin.

The attacks would've collided if it hadn't been blocked by something pink. Sakura stopped both attacks from reaching each other but instead they collided with her own body. One side she had a large wound from Sasuke's chidori and a large bruise on the other side.

Both gasped in horror at the sight before them. A warm crimson liquid was dripping from the wound Sasuke had made.

"Stop it, you two. This isn't the time to fight," she spoke after getting enough air. But the two had long forgotten about their fight and were eyeing her with worried expressions.

"SAKURA-SAN, YOU' RE HURT!" Lee exclaimed.

"….Sakura…," Sasuke muttered.

"I'm fine, just don't fight. You're making things worst. But we have a mission, if you have forgotten, Lee. I remember clearly that the scroll didn't state anything relating to this sort."

"But Sakura, you're hurt!" Lee once again exclaimed.

"If you have forgotten then I'll jolt your memory. Why did Neji ask me to join this mission? I may not be as strong as the others but I have other jobs," she reminded him, "I'm a medical nin if you have forgotten."

Slowly she focused her chakra and a green chakra surrounded her hands. Holding her palms just away from her wounds, they began to slowly heal.

Sasuke stood there staring at Sakura and was shocked once again, as to how much she was capable of. Once she thought that her wounds were fine, she let the green chakra around her palms, fade before turning to the two who were a lost for words.

"We should rest. I'm sure there is going to be a big day ahead of us tomorrow," she informed them while trying to get comfortable, laying her back against a tree.

The two just nodded but neither wanted to sleep anywhere near each other, believing that if they did, one of them would kill the other. Soon the three were asleep, believing Sakura's words.

* * *

Naruto was unsure where he was headed but running in the dark, becomes difficult even for Jounin. Sasuke hadn't caught up to him but now he was certain that the S-ranked missing-nin went after Sakura. He was deciding whether to turn back or not when he sensed an unfamiliar chakra close by. 

_I wonder who that could be. Wait, there are two chakras, one that is just small but and a larger one, _he thought. _I'll find out when I see who they are._

Increasing his speed, he quickly caught up only to discover a man holding a body. His insides were burning with anger when he realised who the body belonged to, Hinata. Taking out a shuriken and kunai, Naruto sent them flying towards her captor. The man easily dodged them, and then speed off with Naruto trying really hard to keep on his tail.

"What are you doing with Hinata?" he called out, unsure if it was the right thing to do.

The man stopped in his tracks waiting for Naruto to catch up, but the blonde was smart enough not to go close, because an exploding tag would've hit him. The captor turned around, facing Naruto showing him, Hinata who looked paler in the moonlight.

"What did you do to Hinata?" he asked again, with hints of anger in his voice.

A small chuckle was heard before a low voice replied, "That is none of your business. This is my mission and if you don't want to get hurt, then I suggest you leave and I'll let you live. After all, judging you, I'd say you're just a useless ninja. Shouldn't you be back there, helping your friends?"

"This is my mission and business. Hinata is a Konoha ninja and it is also my duty to protect those of the Village," Naruto started softly but his attitude changed when starting his next sentence, "But you have no right to make fun of me or my friends. Insulting them is an insult to the village, and I despise those who think badly of our Village. As my duty, I shall bring down any enemy that comes along my path and it's your lucky day today, because I'm sure you would like a demonstration of Konoha's power."

Once finishing his sentence, Naruto sent a punch and a kick at the captor. Who seemed to think that battling with Hinata in his hands, was a pain, so he threw the Hyuuga heiress roughly into the dirt.

Seeing this action made Naruto even angrier, and even more, to beat the man in front of him to a pulp.  
"How dare you treat Hinata like that! You will be so sorry that you ever met me," Naruto shouted out, indicating the anger through his words.

Slowly, a red chakra started to take form around the blonde, making his opponent shiver, slightly.

_What is with that chakra? It is so strong with such an unwelcoming feeling, _Shiruko thought.

Suddenly, Naruto has his hands clamped strongly around Shiruko's neck, who was half dizzy from the lack of air and half in shocked. The kyuubi's chakra allowed Naruto to move up a fold in speed.

"How did you move so fast," Shiruko gasped out, once he got enough air.

"That doesn't concern you. What do you want with Hinata and what did you do to her? If you don't answer me now, then I'm sure you would like to live in the deepest pit of hell," Naruto snapped.

Moving his hands around Naruto's arms, Shiruko tried desperately to escape from the strong grip, but failed to. Shiruko found air even more difficult to get and if he didn't get an intake of air soon, he was sure that he would die.

Luckily for him, Naruto released his death hold allowing him to answer, once getting enough air. While doing so, he was also trying to look for an escape route. Naruto soon saw his moves and performed a single hand seal.

"Kage Bushin no jutsu!"

Four clones of Naruto appeared, surrounding Shiruko in case he wanted to do something sneaky.

Raising his voice slightly, Naruto turned to face Hinata's captor, "Answer my questions, unless you really want your death to come."

Shiruko started sweating but it was his mission as a ninja to complete it. During missions with Rika and Yoshiru, he learnt that never give away information to others.

Summoning all his courage, "I would choose death rather than tell you of my mission."

Naruto had enough of the rude attitude of the man in front. In his hands, blue chakra started taking form in a shape of a ball. Shiruko knew that there was noway to escape and he was never going to tell why they needed Hinata.

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted, sending the attack at Shiruko, who had his eyes closed, knowing the impact would hurt. Blood spat out from the wound, onto the floor and Naruto's face.

The attack was aimed at his heart and the wound was hurting by the second. With the last of his strength, Shiruko managed to stab Naruto on him right arm causing the Jounin to leap back, in surprise. Shiruko thought he could escape from further damage, but not from death. Blood was pouring out rapidly from the wound and he would die of blood loss.

He had no medical skills, so in the end at least he got a chance to hurt the blonde, hoping that Rika and Yoshiru could complete the mission.

"I'm sorry for failing you, my friends," he whispered before closing his eyes, going to his death.

Naruto stood back, bandaging his wound as best a possible. As soon as that was done, he went over to his opponent, noting that he was already dead. His head quickly turned to where Hinata was, lying uncomfortably on the dirt.

He spotted a nearby cave and picking Hinata up, he brought her with him. Once inside the cave, rain started pouring down. In his head, Naruto was thankful that he found the cave. Looking down at the Hyuuga heir, Naruto saw strands of hair on her face and dirt. Taking out a small towel, Naruto cleaned her face revealing beautiful features.

_She is really cute even when she fainted or asleep, _Naruto thought.

The kyuubi boy was becoming tired and within moments, fell asleep, unaware of the sounds on the outside.

* * *

While Naruto was having his rest, Neji and Tenten were still after their opponents. They had been following for sometime but luckily with Neji's byakugan, they had no trouble in the dark. 

"Neji, how far ahead, are they?" Tenten asked her white-eyed team-mate.

"…Not far, but it sill still take us a while to catch up," he replied.

"Okay," she said while flashing a small smile at her team-mate or shall we say "boyfriend".

Thought Neji wasn't the type to laugh or smile, but when he saw Tenten flash him that expression, his face showed bits of happiness. Luckily they were in the dark, so Tenten didn't get a glimpse of a shade of pink on Neji's face.

Suddenly with his byakugan, he caught the mere shapes of two figures, up ahead. Speaking softly to Tenten, "They're close and we don't want to lose them again. Keep your guard up."

Tenten nodded at her captain and slipped one of her hands, into her weapon holster, drawing out a kunai, just to be safe. _I don't have many weapons with me, most of it is still in my backpack, _she thought.

The two ahead of them must have realised that they had been caught, because they soon came to a sudden halt.

"So, I see you managed to keep up," Rika said, mocking at them.

Both Neji and Tenten remained silent, unbothered by her comment.

"Quiet, are we?" her partner, Yoshiru asked them. Then turning to his female companion, "Another Hyuuga, one such cold hearted and a stupid, tomboyish looking team-mate."

He said it loud enough to be heard by Neji and Tenten. _Tomboyish! _Tenten thought, angrily. _How dare they say that about me! They are so going to pay. _

Neji who sensed the anger from Tenten, stepped back, knowing never to mess with a pissed and angry, Tenten.

"You dare to call me that!" she yelled, her voice full of hatred and her eyes, showed her emotion.

"And what if we did?" Yoshiru replied, provoking her, even more.

_That's it; he is going to die,_ thought Neji.

"Why you, idiotic, stupid, looking piece of shit!" Tenten exclaimed, then in a flash, charged straight for Yoshiru.

Over the years, with the help of Neji, her ninja skills improved dramatically. She was no longer the girl that was easily defeated by Temari. No, she was someone, new. She threw a kunai at him but as expected, he managed to dodge it with ease.

"Too easy, right?" she asked mockingly.

Her opponent smirked, unsure of what to say. While, Rika and Neji stood back watching the fight in front of them. But Neji was hoping to catch Rika off guard, so he could attack her without using too much of his chakra. He has his bloodline, activated keeping a watch on Tenten, just to be sure, that she wasn't injured or needing his help in anyway. But Tenten was fighting a match that seemed easy, since she was fighting with such a calm position, which made him slightly confused, though he didn't show it.

_Something is wrong. This match seems too easy. Is he trying to make Tenten, use up all her chakra? But Tenten's not that dense, she will work it out now or eventually, _Neji thought.

Tenten jump back, realising that her opponent wasn't attacking in anyway. _Trying to make me use up all my chakra. Well I'm smarter than you think. _Once again, she charged at the enemy, using less chakra than before. With all the training she had, almost every skill she had, improved its best. She had more stamina and more chakra, which becomes very helpful whenever a battle arose.

The brunette stopped in her tracks when she saw, her opponent perform a series of hand seals. Suddenly, a shower of senbon, shot up from below for her and Tenten swiftly created some hand seals for the substitution technique. The senbon pierced themselves into her fake form and then a 'puff' was heard and smoke bellowed out from the place. As the smoke cleared, on the floor were the remains of logs.

_Kawarimi no Jutsu. Clever but not for long, _Yoshiru thought.

Tenten leapt out from her hiding spot, and stood a few metres away from her opponent.

"I see that you are neither stupid nor slow," he spoke out.

"Hn…." she replied. _God, I'm using the word Neji always says when he replies. Must be spending too much time with him, _she thought while mentally slapping herself.

"But I will defiantly finish you off," Yoshiru replied after she gave her response.

He once again performed a series of hand seals and then placed his hands on the floor; the earth below Tenten broke through and shot up like a barrier. She tried running faster to reach the top before the barrier could capture her, inside. But the earth was just too fast, within moments, she was trapped inside an earth barricade. (**A/N:** The barrier thing Jirobou used when capturing Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba, Chouji and Neji.)

_Tenten! _Neji yelled inside his mind, _Shit, that cage is sucking chakra from the captive person. I'd better help her but first I have to finish off these two. _

Activating his bloodline, the byakugan user went straight towards Yoshiru, who had his hand occupied. Rika who saw the action, quickly leapt in front of her partner, taking up a new fight.

"Sorry, but I can't let you go there. But if you do so, then I'll be forced to kill you," Rika spoke up.

"Hn, kill me? Sorry lady but I don't think you will be able to do that," Neji spoke in a mocking tone.

"Why you, arrogant bastard!" Rika exclaimed, but she only received a smirk from her enemy.

"Care to try?' Neji once again spoke in a provoking manner.

"You will be so sorry that you didn't go when I let you. Now you will have pay. Death awaits you."

"Hn"

Rika performed a series of hand seals, and then blowing fireballs from her mouth all aimed at the Hyuuga. The attacks all hit their mark, _too easy, _Rika thought, but when the smoke cleared, left in the spot where the Hyuuga prodigy had been, was a log.

_Substitution technique! Where has he gone? _She thought.

She looked around herself, hoping to catch a glimpse of her opponent, but there were none. Mean while, Neji was situated at the top of a tree looking down at the scene with his byakugan; he saw Tenten inside the cave but the form of her shocked him. She wasn't standing steadily but holding the sides of the wall for support.

_I better beat that man first unless I want to carry Tenten back to the camp, _he thought. Looking for a chance to attack, he made clones of kunais, shurikens and senbons, sending a shower of weapons down on them. Rika saw the attack come out of no where and proceeded in dodging the weapons but she saw that some too, were aimed a Yoshiru.

"Youshiru, watch out, behind you!" she called to him.

Her partner managed to dodge the attack but lifting one hand from the earth. Neji ran rapidly to Yoshiru, using his 'gentle fist' on the man. Neji hit a few of his tenketsu (chakra points), stopping the flow of chakra in his body. Focusing a large amount of chakra in one palm, he hit his opponent, squarely on the chest, sending the man flying back.

The barrier stopped and fell back to the earth and lying in the middle of the mess, was Tenten. She was stirring a little and slowly, her eyes fluttered open. Looking around she saw her 'opponent' beaten up just a few meters away from her. A hand came into view, offering her a hand. She accepted it gratefully; already knowing who it belonged to.

"Thanks Neji," she spoke but her voice was a little shaky. Her legs were a bit tired and were unable to support her weight. But she used all her effort to stand, so she wouldn't seem weak.

Rika was standing a distance away from them, everything happened so fast that she didn't have to chance to help out.

"Neji let me finish her, since I never go to finish my other match," she asked him.

"I don't think so, your chakra is low already," he replied but his team-mate wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. She already walked away from him, getting into her stance, challenging Rika to a match.

Rika's face brightened up when she saw that she was fighting Tenten, instead of the Hyuuga. _So easy, I will definitely be able to defeat her. After all, Yoshiru already sucked out most of her chakra, so she shouldn't have much left. _

Rika sent a couple of weapons flying towards Tenten, but the bun-headed Jounin, caught them with ease.

"You caught them!" Rika exclaimed but her opponent only smirked in return. _She caught them so easily! How can it be? She wasn't even supposed to be able to dodge them, with that level of chakra left. _

Rika cringed at the thought of losing and inside, she was angered deeply, but she remained calmed on the outside. She performed a set if hand seals before charging at the weapon mistress.

Tenten leapt back when she noticed the change of speed of her opponent. It was twice as fast and coming at her at a fast rate. Rika sent a series of punches and kicks at Tenten, who had difficulty dodging many of them. The rate they kept coming at, made it impossible to make a move. The bun-headed Jounin received hits at her stomach, face and almost everywhere else. Her body was beginning to feel sore, all over but she refused to give in. This continued onwards for a few more minutes until Rika finally stopped, thinking that Tenten was down for sure. She sent a punch with more power at Tenten, causing her to fly back and into the dirt.

Neji was standing back from the fight, since it was Tenten's battle, not his. But his years of training with her hadn't been for nothing. The fight just then had been nothing compared to the training they did. The prodigy looked back at the fight and saw Rika standing away from a beaten form of Tenten, but he wasn't worried, not one bit.

"You (pant) lose," Rika said to her opponent.

Tenten was lying on the floor from the impact but smirked when she heard Rika say this.

"Don't think so fast, this fight is far from over," she replied while slowly getting to her feet.

"You're….you're still able to stand! Impossible!" Rika exclaimed.

"I'm not that easy to defeat but you are."

"How dare you say that! You're the one who is all beaten up and hurt, not me," Rika yelled.

"Well, that will change," Tenten replied, before taking out a scroll. She circled Rika then jumped into the air, performing some flips. She twirled the scroll around her body, looking down at her opponent.

Rika looked up, wondering what she was doing, but it was hard to see in the dark. _What is she doing with that scroll? It's too dark, I can't see clearly, _she thought.

Placing a hand over each symbol, a weapon appeared in sight. Tenten flung multiple weapons down at Rika who managed to doge most of them.

Some weapons managed to cut her, near the shoulders and arms, leaving a gash of blood dripping down. A kunai imbedded itself in her left thigh and a senbon in her right. Each time she dodged the coming attack, she received more on herself.

When Tenten stopped, she landed gracefully on the earth and the sight, pleased her. Situated in the middle of all the weapons was Rika's body, with weapons fully imbedded into her with a puddle of blood surrounding her.

_I guess training at night does help, _she thought.

Her body gave in and her legs buckled under her weight and she collapsed from exhaustion. She would have been eating dirt if Neji hadn't caught her in his strong arms.

Looking down at his team-mate, he saw her asleep in his arms, all worn out from the battle. But her features were just a beautiful, especially in the moonlight. Carrying her in bridal style, he headed back to the camp they had set up, earlier.

Neji had been heading back for a while when he spotted two figures coming at him one was smaller than the other. Their chakra felt familiar but he was unsure who they were. When they got closer, he saw a blurry form of his smaller cousin and Kiba.

"Hanabi-sama," he greeted his cousin when they stopped in their tracks.

"Neji-nii-san," she replied, "what's wrong with your team-mate"

"Pass out after a fight."

"So weak," Hanabi announced.

Neji sent a glare at his cousin who saw it and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Well she is, I'm don't even pass out after a fight. She is more of a weak-," she started but couldn't continue on, when Kiba placed a hand over her mouth to shut her up. Bending down he whispered something in her ear which caused her to give Neji a big evil smile. But Neji just turned away, knowing clearly what Kiba has told his younger cousin. He had heard Kiba tell Hanabi to keep quiet about Tenten because she was Neji's girlfriend.

Kiba couldn't clearly see Tenten, but in the darkness, you could make out a few dark marks. _Bruises! Must have been a bad fight. I wish I was there and not keeping eye on this brat, _he thought.

"You'll have to find Sakura; she went off into the forest when Naruto and her were fighting Sasuke. I don't know what has happened," Kiba said to Neji after letting go of Hanabi.

"Hn," Neji replied then started heading back, with Tenten still in his arms. He had checked before, that she hadn't any broken bones, just bruises.

Then something came to his mind, they had forgotten about Hinata. Turning around, he faced Kiba who stopped in his tracks when he saw his captain halt.

"Do you know about Hinata?" Neji asked him.

"Hinata? Um…I think Lee went after her or did he go after Sakura," he started, "but I don't remember because I was keeping an eye on your cousin."

"Nee-san? I haven't seen her since the day we went training," Hanabi spoke up.

Neji kept quiet for sometime before turning to Kiba, "Go find her now. I'll take care of the things here."

"Okay," Kiba replied, and then turning around and ran off in search of the Hyuuga heiress.

"Hanabi-sama, we're going back to the camp." Neji announced then heading off, with Hanabi close behind.

* * *

**A/N: **I'm so sorry that i took me this long to update. I was really out of ideas but in the end, i worked out something. Hopefully you liked this chapter though there isn't much fluff. There will be more in the next chatper. Thanks for reading. Review please. 

Neji Rocks- Thanks for the help. I think i'll stick to the pairings but i like your ideas. They helped me quite a bit.

Black Phantasy- Thanks Vic. Don't worry, i'll come up something in the end.

valonross- There will be some more Sasusaku and Nejiten in the next few chapters. The talk will come soon and thanks for that idea. Like it very much.

XxaoshixX- Thanks.

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvxyz- Thanks for the review. At least i got some ideas in the end.

mysticalshadowangel- Sheesh, i've slowed down already. Happy now? Anyhow thanks for the review. Ja.

Tears like Crystals- Thanks for the review, i really need to thanks you. I like the idea you suggested, in which i used. Thanks again.

Other reader/reviewers- Please review and thanks for reading.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: If you reviewed for the last chapter and since I deleted the authors note, I believe you won't be able to review for this chapter. Unless you decide to place an anonymous review. Sorry. **I didn't mention in the last chapter but Akamaru is with Kiba.

* * *

**Chapter 11**

"Akamaru, see if you can catch Hinata's scent," Kiba told his friendly companion, who barked in return.

A few minutes after they had been searching, Akamaru found a faint smell which belonged to Hinata. Barking at his owner, he caught Kiba's attention within a few seconds.

"Great job, Akamaru! Let's go before we lose the trail."

It didn't take long to find the Hyuuga heiress, and with her, was a certain blonde haired Jounin.

"Oi, Hinata, Naruto, wake up!" Kiba called to them, the two stirred a little before slowly heaving themselves up, off the earth.

"K…kiba-kun, what are you doing here? Nar…uto-kun?" Hinata stuttered, when she realized where she was and who were around her.

"Neji told me to go look for you, but you're safe at least," Kiba replied then turning to the Kyuubi container, "Oi, Naruto what were doing here?"

"Um, I was running away from Sasuke so we could fight elsewhere, but I think he went after Sakura instead," Naruto replied.

"Ki…ba-kun, Nar…uto-kun, maybe we should go find, Neji-ni-san before he starts wondering where you we are, "Hinata asked them timidly, when she felt a small tug at the bottom of her pants. Looking down she saw her team-mate's companion, Akamaru.

"Akamaru"

The dog barked happily at the sight of her, running around her legs.

"Stop it, Akamaru," Kiba commanded and before anyone else could say anything he turned to leave, calling back to them, "Let's go."

The other two followed behind him, since Naruto had long forgotten where camp was. His stomach was complaining since he hadn't had much food the day before.

"Kiba, are we there yet? I'm hungry!" he called the dog lover. When Naruto is hungry, he sure can forget how to act. Just then, he had almost sounded like a five year old child. A small smile crept its way to Hinata's face, _how cute, _she thought about Naruto.

"Soon," Kiba called back to him.

"Grh!" Naruto called back, but decided to keep quiet.

* * *

"Lee-san, Sasuke-kun, lets head back. I'm sure the others are wondering where we are," Sakura announced to the others. 

_Sakura-san said my name before Sasuke's. Yay! She defiantly is starting to like me. I must tell Gai-sensei of my accomplishment. _

"Yes, Sakura-san! I'm sure the others are worried!" Lee exclaimed, before doing his good guy pose.

Sakura and Sasuke were thinking along the same lines, _weird. _

Then they headed off, in total silence with Lee taking the lead, then Sakura and following up, Sasuke.

* * *

Neji, who was carrying Tenten and had Hanabi following behind him, was the first to arrive back at the camp. Everything was still there, where they had left it. Placing Tenten down on one of the sleeping bags, he let her rest, while going outside to check on his younger cousin. 

"Hanabi-sama, you should drink some water," Neji said while handing a cup of water to her, who rudely snatched the cup from his hands.

"Stay here, while I check on Tenten," he ordered her, but the young Hyuuga protested.

"Why do I have to listen to you! You're not in charge!" she yelled at him.

Neji turned to her, giving her a small glare, "At home I am not, but on this mission, I am." After saying that, Neji left, going back to the tent, where he had placed Tenten.

Taking a look at her, he noted that she was slightly shivering and muttering that she was cold. Placing his hand on her forehead, he felt the heat against his palm, burning like fire.

Acting quickly, he took a small towel and water bottle from his backpack. Wetting the towel with the water, he placed it gently against her head. Her body tightened at the contrast of temperature, but slowly her body loosened again, becoming more relaxed.

Sighing in relief, all he wanted was for her to get better, quickly. He never expected she would get a fever, just because of chakra usage, but maybe she had used a lot, too much in her case. Taking one last look at her form, he slipped back out and into the daylights. His body was growing tired, since he hadn't slept for a while. The last time he had, had a full nights sleep was a long time ago, since he always trained so much.

Outside he found, Hanabi staring off into space while fiddling with her fingers, then a wide grin, spread across her face. Neji would have wondered what she was thinking about but soon Kiba, Akamaru, Naruto and Hinata came into view.

"Neji-ni-san," Hinata greeted her cousin, who in return didn't show much effort in returning a reply.

"Hn"

Hinata ignored the reply when she saw her sister, situated a few feets away.

"Hanabi!" she called out happily, while her face lightened up.

"Nee-san, you're back, as I see," Hanabi replied, hinting a bit of sarcasm in her voice, "Though you seem a bit messed up."

"Um…this, yeah…i did get into some sort of trouble," Hinata answered, with her nervousness returning.

Then silence filled the air, no one seemed to have anything else to say until a certain blonde headed boy decided to ask out loud.

"Neji, where's Sakura-chan?"

Neji muttered something under his breath which sounded like, _stupid, annoying brat, why did I even decided to bring him along?_

"What did you say?" Naruto asked, cupping his hands over his ears.

"...never mind..."

"Has anyone seen Sakura-chan?" Naruto yelled out, sending birds flying out of their homes, in the trees.

_Back with Sakura and co._

"Did you hear something?" Sakura asked her two companions, coming to a halt while turning around to face them

"No..." the two replied in unison.

"Um...okay, then I guess I was just imagining it."

With nothing else to say, the group continued their journey back to the camp.

_Back with Naruto and co. _

Naruto was constantly asking aloud, where Sakura was but no one answered him. It was beginning to get on Neji's and Kiba's nerves, and the two were about to beat the living hell out of him, if Sakura hadn't come to the rescue.

Lee, Sakura and Sasuke revealed themselves from the bushes, heading over to the group. At the sight of the pink headed kunoichi, Naruto rushed straight for her，leaving the rest sweat dropping, anime style.

"Sakura-chan, are you alright? Sasuke-teme, didn't hurt you did he? If he did, I swear I'd get revenge for you," he asked, saying question after question right into her face.

By the look on Sakura's face, anyone could tell that she found him quite bothering and was almost about to let all her anger out, when Sasuke quickly placed his hand around Naruto's throat, shutting the loud mouth up.

Naruto's hands flew towards the hand surrounding his throat, and struggled to get free. But Sasuke's hold was tight, even if he was only using one hand. Naruto's face was becoming a bit blue, and that grew by the second.

"Sasuke-kun, please let go of Naruto, I'm sure he has learnt his lesson," Sakura spoke up after a few awkward moments.

Nodding slightly, Sasuke sent a death glare at the blonde before releasing his hold. With his throat free, Naruto rapidly took in deep breaths of air, saying to himself, I _can't believe Sasuke has become so strong. What has he done over the past five years?_

Lee was watching the whole thing but from a distance away, when he noticed Neji standing a couple of feets away; walking over to his captain, he left the reformed, Team 7 by themselves.

"We're back," Lee informed his friend.

"Fine but I'm not happy at all," Neji replied.

Lee wondered why but he couldn't come up with any answer so he decided to ask, "Why?"

"...you were supposed to be with Kiba and Hanabi but you went after Sakura and Sasuke, instead. That is objecting to my orders, and I shall have to inform the Hokage about this, once we get back."

"WHAT! But Sakura-san was in trouble, I couldn't have just let Sasuke go after her and let her get hurt," Lee replied with his eyes, widening.

Neji turned his head slightly around to catch a glimpse of Sakura, one look and that was enough to tell him more than he needed to know.

Then turning around to speak to Lee, "She doesn't look injured in anyway, so I believe next time you should follow my orders instead of running off to do something else."

Without letting Lee reply, the Hyuuga prodigy headed over to Sakura, hoping she could take a look at Tenten. But once getting near her, his eyes darted over to the missing-nin instead.

"Uchiha," Neji spoke in a low and calm voice.

Replying in the same tone, Sasuke merely acknowledged the captain's presence, "Hyuuga."

Forgetting all about Tenten and Sakura, he starting questioning the S-ranked missing-nin, "Are you planning to return to Konoha, after how many years you betrayed our village?"

Sasuke glared menacingly at the Hyuuga genius and replied in a rather disgusted tone, "What if I am? That is none of your business."

The rest of the group remained silent, all watching, wanting to know what would happen next. Nothing was heard, except for the occasional chirping of birds in the forest, until Neji broke the silence.

"In fact, it is. As a Konoha ninja, it is also my duty."

"Well, I'll have you know, that I will be returning to Konoha. I shall give no further information," Sasuke replied, while grabbing Sakura's hand, and dragging her and himself away from the emotionless captain.

The rest of the group had nothing else to do, so each went off to do their own thing. Hanabi wanted to look around in the forest but Neji wouldn't allow her to go by herself and ordered Kiba to go with her.

_Why is it always me stuck with the baby-sitting job, _Kiba thought to himself.

They had only walked a few metres, when Neji's voice came again, "Sakura, I need you to take a look at Tenten."

The pink-headed kunoichi turned around and wondered over, back to Neji asking him where she was. Neji pointed over at the tent, and Sakura, rushed straight there, hoping the situation wasn't serious.

Once inside, she saw Tenten lying on a sleeping bag, but slightly relaxed. Taking away the towel, she placed her palm against her forehead and concentrated on her chakra; a green glow surrounded her hand and she left it there on the older girl's forehead for a few minutes.

When she believed that everything was fine, she stepped back outside, where Neji seemed to be waiting anxiously though it didn't show on his face. Walking up to him, she told him of his team-mate's situation, "Her fever is down; all she needs is a good rest."

Neji nodded and mumbled a thanks that was almost incoherent; then dragging himself back to the tent.

But Sakura didn't mind, she headed over to Sasuke who was siting by a log, staring into space.

"Sasuke-kun, do you mind if I join you?" she asked him, even though she knew that she probably wouldn't be given an answer in return. But instead, she felt an arm around her waist, which dragged her down besides him.

"…Stay here with me…" Sasuke muttered while looking straight into her emerald, coloured eyes.

Sakura could see the thing she wanted most through his eyes, _his love. _She nodded in return and rested her head on Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke bent forward and gave her a small kiss on her forehead. Sakura whispered a few words into the missing-nin's ear which made a soft smile appear on his almost emotionless face.

Inside his mind, those three words (I love you…) could make him happy forever; laying his head on Sakura's, he too started to drift off but a sudden force took Sakura away but not from view. .

Naruto saw Sasuke kissing Sakura and wasn't very happy with the sight, it made Sakura look helpless which angered the blonde even more.

"Sasuke-teme, what are you doing with Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked rather rudely yet loudly.

Sasuke's eyes changed from the lovingness he had shown to Sakura, to ones that were burning red.

"Are you daring for a fight?" Sasuke asked mockingly.

"Even if I was, I could beat you any day. I'm much stronger than I was before!" Naruto replied, showing full confidence in himself.

"Na…ruto-kun, Neji-ni-san wa-," a soft female voice started but stopped when she saw the situation in front of her.

Not knowing what else to do, she ran back over to her cousin and informed him of the situation happening.

"Neji-ni-san, Naruto-kun seems…to be having…a…a fight with Sasuke," she told him, who in return looked up slightly; sighing to himself while getting up, walking over to the bickering, two.

"Uchiha! Naruto! What are you two doing?" Neji yelled angrily at the two.

"Arguing," Sasuke simply replied using an, _I don't care_ tone.

"There shall be no fighting here and onwards, if I hear of another fight, then it will not go unpunished," Neji spoke in a frightening tone, which no one seemed to want to reply to. The blonde was about to open his mouth, but suddenly a series of kunais and shuriken flew passed the prodigy's face, only millimetres away from his skin, aimed at Naruto and Sasuke.

One shuriken gave a small cut to Naruto on his neck, while another cut a piece of Sasuke's raven-coloured hair. Neji smirked, already knowing who it was, without having to take a look. The weapons were thrown at such high speeds that one could hardly see them, let alone dodge them. Coming into view, Tenten stood herself next to Neji, looking pissed.

"I see that you're better," Neji spoke in a smooth tone.

"I would be even better if I had gotten more rest, my body still aches a little and my aim seemed a little off," she replied and the tone of her voice didn't sound a bit happy at all. "I was wondering who caused all those loud noises, I could perfectly work out your voice and Naruto's but I still believe that I missed one."

"Tenten-san…are…you fee…ling better?" Hinata timidly asked the older girl.

"Tenten, feeling better?" Sakura asked.

The weapon mistress nodded but kept her eyes glaring at Sasuke and Naruto, while a dangerous aura starting coming from her.

"I believe I know who the last voice belongs to," she started in a soft manner, but suddenly her voice went loud and angry, "You two talk too loud and you as so dead!"

If males knew one important thing about women, then it was, NEVER ever mess with an angered female, especially if she is pissed.

Both Sasuke and Naruto had their experiences back I their genin years, one could never forget those times. The two were going to run for it, but luckily the weapon mistress was brought to a hold. Neji had placed both of his hands around her waist, preventing her from charging at the two.

Then bending slightly forward he whispered a few words into her ear, "Tenten...calm down..."

To the two shinobi's luck, the weapon mistress indeed, calmed down and the anger in her eyes faded away. Before turning around to leave, she muttered a few words under her breath which no one could quite get what she had said.

Looking back at the group in front of him, Neji announced, "We'll head back to Konoha, early tomorrow morning. For now, get some rest, as there is going to be quite a long journey."

That night, nothing major happened, only slight quarrels which Neji, once again had to deal with them all with the help of Hinata. Everyone was going to head off to bed except for Sasuke and Neji, who both volunteered to be on guard by themselves, without the company of another. In the end, Sasuke ended up with guard duty while Neji got some rest.

Sasuke placed himself on a fallen log and many thoughts started coming to his mind, most were mainly about Itachi. He was paying so much attention on his thoughts, that he didn't realise a certain pink-headed kunoichi coming his way. When he had realised, Sakura had placed herself next to him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Sakura, what are you doing here?" he asked her.

"Keeping you company," she muttered sleepily.

Before Sasuke could say anything more, Sakura had already fallen asleep, and her chest rising and falling to each intake of air.

Everyone was up early the next morning, and was all ready to set off. Tents and sleeping bags were packed up. But before they headed off, Neji told Sasuke to use henge for the whole journey. Sasuke turned himself into a replica Shino, since it was the first thing that came to his mind. After that, they headed out, setting their destination to Konoha.

The entire journey, took three days and nothing of interest happened. Only everyone seemed to realise the change Sakura was having. She was no longer as anti social as before, but was beginning to act like how she was, in her genin years, though not as annoying. Her smiles for once, were actually true, not the fake ones that she had been showing. They could all see the glint of happiness shining in her eyes, unlike before, when they were dull and not a single sign of anything.

Since nothing dramatic happened, besides for Lee's occasional outburst, the group continued their journey in silence.

_Konoha Gates_

The guards saw them coming and seeing Neji in front, they allowed them to pass without stopping them. They quickly headed for the Hyuuga Manor, in which they found Hiashi already waiting for them at the front, to their surprise.

Hiashi scanned the group and from the three white eyed people, he saw his two daughters. Slightly afraid that they would be punished due to their weakness, and getting kidnapped, but none less, they walked up to their father, who acknowledged their presence.

Seeing her father in a happy mood, Hanabi took the chance to whisper something into his ears, which caused the Hyuuga head to smile faintly. Hinata stood behind Hanabi, and spoke, "I'm sorry, father, please forgive me….for the trouble I've caused everyone."

Hiashi looked up to see his eldest daughter, who had a saddened expression on her face. He merely nodded in her direction, and that was enough to make Hinata happy. Turning back to Neji and his group he thanked them and allowed them to be dismissed.

Kiba muttered something about going home and Akamaru. Naruto and Sakura were walking with Sasuke, who had an annoyed face. (Sasuke is still in henge). Lee ran off to find Gai-sensei, yelling something about accomplishments. The rest were all going to go home except for Neji and Tenten who were planning to report to the Hokage.

"Neji, Tenten, Hanabi and Hinata, stay here, I need to have a talk with you," Hiashi called to them, stopping the four people in their tracks.

Turning around, Neji faced his uncle before speaking up, "Hiashi-sama, I need to inform the Hokage."

Hiashi seemed to ignore Neji but after a few seconds, replied, "Get someone else to go."

Neji knew that Sasuke was going to see the Hokage, so he ran quickly in order to catch up to the Uchiha. Luckily for him, Sasuke was outside the Hyuuga Manor talking to Sakura and Naruto. Both of them wanted to go with him to see what happens but Sasuke wouldn't allow them.

_Sasuke or Sakura? Sakura seems more dependable and she is the Hokage's apprentice. Okay, Sakura should go inform the Hokage that we have completed our mission. _

Walking up to the pink headed kunoichi, Neji informed her of his order and sent her to go see the Hokage. In the end, Sasuke found it bothersome to continue arguing with the two and allowed them to follow. He thought maybe, Tsunade would be more convinced if Naruto and Sakura were with him.

Taking himself back into the Hyuuga manor, Neji saw the other three still outside as if they were waiting for him. One maid came forward and asked them all to follow her into a meeting room, where they found Hiashi seated at the head of the table. (Low tables were you sit on cushions. _Zabuton _is the Japanese name for them)

He motioned for Neji, Hinata and Tenten to sit, but asked Hanabi to stand besides him.

Turning his eyes over to Tenten, Hiashi looked at her for a moment before speaking, "My daughter has informed me of something quite interesting, you wouldn't mind coming out with me to have a quick talk about something?"

Tenten nodded and got up off her 'zabuton', following Hiashi out of the room and back outside.

Once they were gone from view, Neji sent a glare at his younger cousin and whispered angrily, "What did you tell him?"

Hanabi just sent back a glare and replied, "you'll know later.'

Hinata just look at her sister and cousin glare and arguing softly, and she too was curious as to what her father had to say to Tenten.

Outside, there was silence before Hiashi spoke, "How many years have you known, Neji?"

Tenten wasn't expecting this question, and she had known the Hyuuga prodigy for so many years that she had almost lost count of.

"About six to seven years," she replied.

Hiashi just nodded at her reply before asking her again, "Hanabi informed me that Neji seemed to be keeping an eye a certain female, who she told me was you. What do you have to say about that?"

Tenten was shocked hearing this, inside she was wondering how Hanabi knew and also trying to figure out how to answer. _Is he telling me that I can't love Neji because it has something to do with the Hyuuga family? I hope not. It can't be, after all these years I've been waiting for him. _

"Yes, what Hanabi said was true. Neji told me of his feelings one night during the mission and I'm over joyed by it. I've loved your nephew for so long, please Hiashi-sama, please let it stay that way," she replied saying a few things, which showed that she had jumped to conclusions.

Hiashi just laughed upon hearing her say those things, causing Tenten to become quite shocked. She had never seen the Hyuuga head, laugh like this before. After a few awkward moments, Hiashi took himself back into the room, motioning for Tenten to come back as well.

_Things seem to be going quite well, just as I planned it. Hizashi, I know you would want your son to live a happy life. _

Back into the room, Neji saw Tenten's face covered in confusion, he was about to ask her if she was okay, when Hiashi interrupted him, "Neji, I'll like to see you and Hinata outside for a moment. Hanabi you can go back to your room, your job here is over."

The two Hyuugas got off their 'zabuton' and followed the head outside, leaving Tenten alone in the room. She found herself so bored that she took out a kunai from her weapon holster, and began planning with it in her hands.

* * *

**A/N: **What will Hiashi say to Neji and Hinata? What will happen with Sasuke along with Naruto and Sakura? Why has Tenten been called to this meeting? Sorry, but you'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out what happens. Sorry I took so long to update. Anyhow, thanks for reading, please review. 

Hyuuga Tenten – Nara Ino – It's great to hear that you like it. Thanks for reviewing.

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvxyz – Great idea, Thanks. Sorry but you didn't succeed, but it was close enough.

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Other readers/reviewers- Thanks for reading, hopefully you'll continue doing so. Please review.


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